Barcelona's Appeal Denied, Still Barred From Playing With Fans at the Monumental

The sanction stands, and Barcelona has run out of room to overturn it. The club had hoped to have its fans back at the Monumental for the match against Independiente del Valle, but the Appeals Committee shut that door.

It all traces back to the loss to Macará, a match that ended with incidents in the Monumental's stands. Over that episode, the Ecuabet League's Disciplinary Committee punished Barcelona with a fan-free home game and, on top of that, with the closure of the General Sur, the section where the trouble started. Days later, the yellow club's board filed a formal appeal, hoping to ease at least part of the punishment.

The response came from the Guayaquil Chamber of Commerce, the body in charge of resolving this type of appeal, and it was blunt:

Once the evidence and arguments presented by the appealing party were reviewed, the Committee decided to reject the appeal and, therefore, uphold the Disciplinary Committee's decision.Guayaquil Chamber of Commerce

What does this mean in practice? That the Monumental will remain empty for a good stretch of the season. Barcelona already played its first match under this sanction, in the rout of Orense, and now has one more game left with no fans at all. After that, the club will have to play three additional home matches under a partial restriction, with the upper and lower sections of the General Sur staying closed during that stretch.

The Blow Lands at a Bad Time

The board had a specific goal with this appeal: to get its fans' energy back in time for matchday 28, when Barcelona hosts Independiente del Valle. That game carries extra weight, since it would mark Damián Díaz's return to the Monumental as a player for the yellow side, something the Barcelona faithful had been hoping to celebrate from the stands.

With the appeal denied, that reunion between Díaz and the fans will have to wait. According to the sanction schedule, it won't be until the match against Delfín that the Monumental could open up, at least partially, to sections other than the General Sur. That would be the first real chance for fans to see one of the club's greatest legends up close wearing the yellow shirt again, though still without the stadium fully open.

For now, Barcelona will have to carry on playing its home games in front of a nearly empty stadium, while it works through the rest of the punishment handed down for the incidents in that match against Macará.