Barcelona’s predicament: what does the Catalans face if proven to have influenced referees?

While Barcelona are in top form on the pitch, the office staff are having a very hot time. The Barcelona prosecutor’s office is currently investigating a case of paying the referee commission, which could hurt the Catalan club a lot.

SER Catalunya’s ‘Qué t’hi jugues’ programme came up with the information that Barcelona paid the vice-president of the referees’ commission big money between 2016 and 2018.

The Barcelona City Attorney’s Office is investigating the Catalan club’s payments to DASNIL 95, a company owned by José María Enríquez Negreiro, who was vice-president of the Spanish Referees’ Commission.

According to the SER newspaper, the Blaugranas paid Negreiro 532,728.02 euros in 2016, 541,752 euros in 2017 and 318,200 euros in 2018.

Enríquez Negreira has already testified at the prosecutor’s office. The former vice-president of the Technical Commission of Referees has assured that he did not collect the money to favour Barcelona and that the payments were justified by the consultancy work, which consisted of explaining to the players how to behave when dealing with referees.

Barcelona also objected to the allegations, admitting that it had sent payments to Negreiro, but saying that they were first technical advice, which later extended to advising players on how to behave with referees.

What does Barcelona face?

The case goes deeper, however, and may fall under the very serious violations set out in the Royal Decree on Sports Discipline (1591/1992), which was published in the BOE on 19 February 1993.

Article 14, dedicated to very serious infringements, states that “conduct aimed at predetermining the outcome of an event or competition by means of prize, intimidation or simple agreements” will lead to a downgrading.

Thus, if it is proven that Barcelona paid the referees and thus influenced them, there is no fine or deduction of points. According to the Royal Decree, this is a relegation.

Source: MARCA