A look back at the latest scandal involving Barcelona

MADRID (AP) — Spanish football was rocked last month when it was revealed that Barcelona may have paid millions of euros over several years to benefit from referee decisions.

Barcelona have paid a company belonging to the former vice-president of the Spanish arbitration committee.

The Catalans deny doing anything illegal but they have been harshly criticized across the country, and the prosecutor’s office formally charged them last Friday with corruption.

A look back at the latest Barça scandal, the one that erupted as the club was still trying to recover from one of its worst financial crises and the departure of star Lionel Messi.

WHAT HAPPENED?

Prosecutors claim that Barcelona paid up to 7.3 million euros ($7.7 million) between 2001 and 2018 to a company owned by committee vice-president José María Enríquez Negreira for amounts “unjustified because they were not provided for in the statutes of the club, nor approved by the general assembly (of members)”.

The payments were reportedly made in order to receive technical reports on referees and youth pledges, although reportedly at an excessive cost.

Compiling referee reports is standard practice and clubs often hire private companies or prepare them themselves, as Barcelona are currently doing. But paying so much money to the company of the individual involved with the Spanish referees to get the reports is not normal.

The payments were uncovered as part of a tax investigation into the company of Enríquez Negreira, a former referee who was part of the Royal Spanish Football Federation’s referees commission between 1994 and 2018, when the payments were halted . The committee is in charge, among various tasks, of assigning referees for each game.

No evidence has yet been found that the performance of the referees or the results were influenced during the period in which Barcelona made the payments.

THE CHARGE

The prosecutor’s office accused Barcelona of alleged corruption, fraudulent administration and falsification of documents.

The charges were against Barcelona themselves, Enríquez Negreira, former Barça presidents Sandro Rosell and Josep Maria Bartomeu, and former club managers Óscar Grau and Albert Soler.

According to the prosecutors, there is sufficient evidence that Rosell and Bartomeu, presidents of Barcelona in consecutive terms between 2010 and 2020, “entered into and maintained a strictly confidential verbal agreement with the accused” Enríquez Negreira, so that, by his position and with money involved, “to carry out actions tending to favor” Barça in the decision-making of the referees in the matches they have played.

Barcelona have made payments to Enríquez Negreira’s company during the terms of several club presidents, including from 2003 to 2010 during the first term of current president Joan Laporta, who returned to office in 2021. Laporta, however , was not charged by prosecutors and denied any wrongdoing.

WHAT BARCELONA SAYS

The club denies having committed any crime or conflict of interest.

He admitted making frequent payments to Enríquez Negreira’s company but insists they should only receive technical reports, not to interfere in arbitration decisions.

The club did not specify his connection to Enríquez Negreira. Barcelona have hired an independent firm to carry out their own investigation and are expected to release a more detailed version of what happened once it’s completed.

“Barca are innocent of what they are accused of and victim of a campaign against their honor in which everyone is now involved,” Laporta said on Twitter. “No surprise, we will defend Barça and demonstrate the innocence of the club. Many will have to rectify”.

Enríquez Negreira told Cadena SER that he never favored Barcelona when determining referee assignments and that his role was to advise the club on how players should talk to the appropriate referee.

Bartomeu also denied committing a crime and told ABC newspaper that Enríquez Negreira had ‘no power from the referees’.

Barcelona coach Xavi Hernández maintained that the problem did not affect the team. They were eliminated in the Europa League but are in the Copa del Rey semi-finals and lead the Spanish League.

THE ACCUSERS

The Spanish league, national football federation and several clubs have expressed concern and are considering taking action against Barcelona. They claim the scandal damages the reputation of Spanish football and sport in general.

La Liga president Javier Tebas has indicated that Laporta should resign if he can’t explain the payments.

Real Madrid decided on Sunday to appear in the case, expressing “its deep concern about the seriousness of the facts and reiterates its full confidence in the action of justice”.

FOLLOWING?

A trial court will determine whether to admit the prosecutors’ charge.

Sporting sanctions against Barcelona were ruled out at first as possible irregularities were time-barred. But if the club is found guilty, it could be banned from competitions. The justice does not detail the time limits of the procedure.