
<p>Prosecutors are currently investigating payments from <a href="https:\/\/worldsoccertalk.com/teams/barcelona-tv-schedule/">Barcelona</a> to a company owned by a former Spanish referee. The payments apparently totaled nearly $1.5 million over a three-year span.</p>



<p>Reports have surfaced that the Catalan club made payments to a company run by José María Enríquez Negreira from 2016 to 2018. Negreira was previously the vice president of the Referees Committee in Spain. According to <em><a href="https:\/\/en.as.com/soccer/barcagate-what-did-barcelona-get-from-jose-maria-enriquez-negreira-n/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">El Pais</a></em>, this company delivered weekly envelopes ahead of domestic Barca matches. These envelopes supposedly contained both written information and a DVD about the referee in charge of each game. </p>



<p>Although he was previously a <a href="https:\/\/worldsoccertalk.com/la-liga-tv-schedule/">LaLiga</a> referee, Negreira has been retired from the job for quite some time. The former ref worked the Spanish top flight from 1977 up until 1992.</p>



<h2>Former referee, Barcelona team president confirm payments</h2>



<p>Negreira has confirmed that the relationship between the two parties existed, however, he claimed that he gave “verbal” advice. The former ref <a href="https:\/\/en.as.com/soccer/barca-2003-2018-team-with-most-penalties-awarded-lowest-red-card-count-and-most-titles-n/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">says</a> that Barca hired him to “ensure that no controversial refereeing decisions went against them.” </p>



<p>Former Barca president Josep Maria Bartomeu has <a href="https:\/\/www.theguardian.com/football/2023/feb/16/barcelona-payments-refereeing-official-company-prosecutors-investigate" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">told</a> Spanish outlet <em>Mundo Deportivo</em> that these payments went back at least 20 years. He claimed that payments to Negreira’s company totaled about $614,000 per year beginning from 2009. The funds were, however, cut off in 2018 according to Bartomeu.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<div class="ck-twitter"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">FC Barcelona paid nearly €1.5 million to DASNIL 95 SL between 2016 and 2018, a company owned by José Enrique Negreira.<br><br>Negreira was the Vice President of Spain&apos;s Technical Committee of Referees and a La Liga referee at the time. <a href="https:\/\/t.co/AVRpQ4Qs5F">pic.twitter.com/AVRpQ4Qs5F</a></p>— Zach Lowy (@ZachLowy) <a href="https:\/\/twitter.com/ZachLowy/status/1625863753353814016?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 15, 2023</a></blockquote></div><script async="" src="https:\/\/platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



<h5>Barca claim relationship is ‘common practice’ among clubs</h5>



<p>Barcelona also issued a statement on the ordeal as well. The club admitted to the relationship, but stated that it was routine practice among professional soccer teams. </p>



<p>“In the past FC Barcelona hired the services of an external consultant that supplied the club’s technical secretaries with reports in video format of youth players from other clubs in Spain,” <a href="https:\/\/www.fcbarcelona.com/en/club/news/3065705/fc-barcelona-official-announcement" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">read</a> the statement.</p>



<p>“Additionally, the relationship with that supplier extended to technical reports related to professional refereeing in order to complement the information requested by the first and second team coaching staff. This a common practice among professional football clubs.”</p>



<p>The current LaLiga leaders also stated that they will pursue legal actions against those “who are trying to tarnish the club’s image.”</p>



<p>The Royal Spanish Football Federation, Spain’s governing body of the sport, is currently investigating the matter. <em><a href="https:\/\/as.com/futbol/primera/el-caso-no-tendra-consecuencias-disciplinarias-para-el-barcelona-n/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">AS</a></em> is reporting though that it seems unlikely that Barca will be receiving punishment for the alleged payments. There must be clear, concrete evidence that some form of match fixing took place.</p>



<p><em>PHOTO: IMAGO / NurPhoto</em></p>


Barcelona are currently being investigated for payments to a company run by a former LaLiga referee, with limited evidence of match fixing.

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Barcelona unlikely to be sanctioned for payments to referee