Spanish courts have agreed to investigate allegations of ‘persistent sporting corruption’ against Barcelona after prosecutors filed charges last week.
Barcelona has been accused of paying former vice-president of the refereeing committee, José María Enríquez Negira, in exchange for information about match officials and their possible appointments.
Negreira, a former La Liga referee, is alleged to have received around €7m from Barca between 2001 and 2018 in return for this information through detailed reports and video analysis.
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While the club’s current president Joan Laporta has insisted Barcelona did nothing wrong in seeking a ‘technical report about the referees’, former presidents Sandro Rosell and Josep Maria Bartomeu are accused of Negreira in charges presented on Friday by prosecutors. with the aim of having an arrangement in which “he will take” the refereeing decisions in matches played by the club and thus in the results of competitions in favor of Barca.
report from spain already claimed That this specific allegation may lack significant evidence.
Other reports tell Barcelona can be banned from entering next season’s UEFA Champions League on these grounds, although La Liga president Javier Tebas has already said they cannot face the sanction of playing on home soil as the allegations go beyond the three-year limit in which Clubs can be held responsible for such irregularities.
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