Negreira Affair: Real Madrid claims to have evidence against Barça

Real Madrid has re-engaged in the Negreira case. According to several Spanish sources, the Madrid club claims to possess elements it considers damning in the investigation targeting FC Barcelona concerning alleged payments to Spanish arbitration officials. For reference, the case involves payments estimated at over 7.3 million euros made between 2001 and 2018 to companies linked to José María Enríquez Negreira, former vice-president of the Technical Committee of Referees (CTA).

FC Barcelona has maintained since the start of the proceedings that these payments corresponded to consulting services and technical reports on arbitration, rejecting any allegations of influence over the officials. Meanwhile, judicial authorities continue their investigations to determine whether these payments can be classified as acts of corruption or other offenses. In this context, Real Madrid reportedly sent a letter to UEFA to express its position and the elements it deems relevant in this case. The Merengue club intends to closely monitor the development of this issue, which continues to upheave Spanish football.

“Real Madrid C.F. informs that in relation to the so-called ‘Negreira Case’, it has submitted a document to UEFA addressed to its disciplinary bodies. In this document, the club made UEFA aware of the existence of relevant evidence that conclusively strengthens the indications already known from the beginning regarding the existence of prolonged, opaque payments lacking any verifiable justification, made by F.C. Barcelona to the former vice-president of the Technical Committee of Referees of the Royal Spanish Football Federation, José María Enríquez Negreira, through various corporate structures. Real Madrid emphasizes that these facts constitute, from the perspective of sports disciplinary law, a systemic risk of maximum severity for the integrity of competitions, highlighting the existence of undue influence over the refereeing body, incompatible with the essential principles of competitive equality, neutrality, impartiality, and unpredictability of sports results,” wrote Real Madrid in a statement.

“In this context, Real Madrid has requested the immediate resumption of the disciplinary procedure previously initiated by UEFA, considering it unacceptable that this situation has persisted over time, as its continuation seriously compromises the credibility of football, its institutions, and its leaders, and demands a firm, exemplary, and immediate response in the sporting arena, regardless of the outcome of ongoing judicial proceedings. Therefore, our club asks UEFA that, in exercising its own, autonomous, and independent power, it adopt the disciplinary and remedial measures necessary to ensure the integrity, transparency, and proper functioning of competitions, without this implying, in any case, the substitution of the functions of state judicial bodies nor anticipating a criminal qualification of the facts. In this regard, Real Madrid, a stakeholder in the ongoing criminal proceedings as a civil party, will exercise, as it has done since the beginning, the actions corresponding to each procedural stage. Real Madrid reaffirms its commitment to defending the essential values of sport and will continue to promote all necessary actions to ensure that such acts do not go unpunished,” it added.