what you need to know about the “Negreira affair” which is shaking Barça

FC Barcelona’s suspicious payments of money to José Maria Enriquez Negreira, a former senior official in Spanish arbitration, are causing a stir in Spanish football: the club and its leaders risk a lot if it turns out that the sums in question have used to bribe game directors.

What are the facts ?

The Spanish tax authorities have detected irregularities in the payment of taxes by the company Dasnil 95, which belongs to José Maria Enriquez Negreira, former referee and ex-vice president of the Technical Arbitral Committee (CTA) of the Spanish Football Federation between 1994 and 2018. She transmitted her information to the justice system, which decided to open an investigation.

Barca have admitted paying more than €6m since 2001 to firm Dasnil 95 to advise the club on arbitration matters. When the Spanish CTA was dismembered and restructured in 2018 after a change of presidency, and Negreira lost his position as Spain’s number 2 referee, Barça decided to stop the payments. According to the Spanish daily El MundoNegreira then threatened the club, in February 2019, to reveal a “scandal“.

The online investigative media El Confidential claims that two other companies are also in the sights of Spanish justice. One, Soccercam SL, belongs to the son of José Maria Enriquez Negreira. The other, Tresep 2014 SL, was owned by Josep Contreras Arjona, a former Barca manager who died on December 25, whose business was allegedly used to funnel payments to the former refereeing official. Negreira denies any favor done to the Blaugrana club. FC Barcelona president Joan Laporta said on Tuesday that his club had “never bought from referee“.

What is the risk of FC Barcelona on the sporting level?

In Spain, Barca do not risk anything. “It is impossible for there to be disciplinary or sporting sanctions“against FC Barcelona, ​​explained Javier Tebas, the president of La Liga, because”the limitation period for this type of sanction is three years“, and that five years have passed since the events. On the other hand, we still do not know the position of UEFA and FIFA. The Spanish federation transmitted at the beginning of March “all of the information“required by the European football body, which has the possibility of initiating proceedings against FC Barcelona before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

What risk do Barça and Mr. Negreira face in criminal proceedings?

For now, a preliminary investigation is underway, and there is no complaint yet. If that were the case, the sanctions against Barca could range from “suspension of activity” of the club “until its dissolution“pure and simple as a company,” Alberto Palomar, professor of administrative law at Carlos III University in Madrid, told AFP.

If justice confirms that there has been corruption between individuals, the sanctions will directly target Negreira, therefore, but also the former Blaugrana leaders Joan Gaspart (president from 2000 to 2003), Joan Laporta (president from 2003 to 2010, then from 2020 to today), Sandro Rosell (president from 2010 to 2014) and Josep Maria Bartomeu (president from 2014 to 2020). They would face a sentence of six months to four years in prison.

“The decisive point will be to know where the money is (…) If the money went to accounts in Switzerland or if it was used to pay other referees and influence the outcome of matches, there, we are downright on a large scale scam“, explains Palomar.