1.4 million euros for referee boss: FC Barcelona suspected of corruption

Because of the suspicion of “corruption between private individuals”, the public prosecutor’s office had initiated investigations months ago, Spanish media reported on Wednesday. According to media reports citing the authorities, both the leaders’ representatives and Enríquez Negreira admitted the payments at their respective hearings but denied the allegations of corruption. Barcelona’s current club president Joan Laporta defended his predecessor, Josep Bartomeu, who was responsible for payments, despite often criticizing Bartomeu otherwise.

Laporta suspects underlying motives: “It is no coincidence that this information is published at a time when Barça is doing well.” The association has taken advantage of advisory services. “But that’s very normal in football at the big clubs,” he said.

Barcelona coach Xavi also reacted angrily to the media reports. “We always analyze internally the referees who are assigned to us,” he explained to journalists on Wednesday. “We’re doing that, sure, but we’ve been doing it for many years, it’s not new news.”

Enríquez Negreira was a referee in the first division of Spain between 1977 and 1992 and then vice-president of the CTA between 1994 and 2018. In an interview with the broadcaster “Cadena Ser”, the 77-year-old emphasized that as CTA Vice President he had never given FC Barcelona preferential treatment in any decision or referee appointment. His company Dasniel 95 SL verbally advised the club on how the players should behave depending on the referee.