Negreira Scandal: Barcelona Scandal Update – Spanish club Barcelona have recently found themselves in turmoil. After battling a financial crisis since the pandemic, the Catalan club has now been charged with sporting corruption. More precisely, Spanish prosecutors have accused Barcelona of paying referees in order to gain decisions in their favor with the help of the ex-vice-president of Spain’s referees’ committee, Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira. However, the latest reports have emerged in favor of Barcelona and the club might dodge any suspension due to lack of evidence in the case. Follow La Liga LIVE Updates on InsideSport.IN
Negreira Scandal: Barcelona to Escape Corruption Charges? Catalan Giants Handed Major Boost Due to Lack of Key Evidence
The charges of corruption in sports, unfair administration, and falsehood in mercantile documents have been made against the club, two ex-Barca presidents, Sandro Rosell and Josep Maria Bartomeu, Negreira, and two other former Barcelona officials. The investigation reached Barca’s door after Negreira claimed in a tax inspection that the money were transferred from football club Barcelona.
Reportedly, payments of around €7.3m (£6.4m) were made to Negreira’s firm between 2001 to 2018. However, Negreira mentioned that the goal of these payments was to have “neutral” referees in their games.
A senior official from Barcelona cleared that this was expected but the charges are nothing more than an absolutely preliminary investigative hypothesis. He also added that “the club will fully cooperate with the investigation in all means necessary” and cleared saying the payments were never made to influence any official’s decisions. But, they were made to gain technical reports related to professional refereeing, which is a common practice among professional clubs.
Real Madrid have released a statement on the Negreira-Barcelona scandal as Florentino Perez has called an urgent meeting with the Board of Directors to decide Real Madrid’s approach 🚨⤵️ pic.twitter.com/V1XkUNpL35
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) March 11, 2023
Negreira Scandal: Barcelona to Escape Corruption Charges? Catalan Giants Handed Major Boost Due to Lack of Key Evidence
If things go against Barcelona, then they might face several sanctions. Rival club, Real Madrid’s President Florentino Perez has called an emergency meeting after this. Perez has claimed on several occasions recently that the decisions have gone against them when playing Barcelona.
