Barcelona paid 1.4 million euros to the referees’ commission! We didn’t bribe, it was for advice, the club defends itself

There is another scandal on the horizon in Spain. SER Catalunya has reported that Barcelona paid the vice-president of the referees’ commission €1.4 million between 2016 and 2018. The club does not deny the payment, but denies that it was a bribery of referees.

While on the pitch Barcelona is rocking and after a long time is basking at the top of the table, there is panic in the offices. Not only does the club have to deal with how to squeeze the salary cap so that there is no outflow of expensive stars in the summer, now there is more unexpected news.

SER Catalunya’s ‘Qué t’hi jugues’ programme has revealed that Barcelona paid the vice-president of the referees’ commission big money in 2016-2018.

Barcelona’s city prosecutor’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.

How to treat referees

Enríquez Negreira and his son have already testified at the public prosecutor’s office. The former vice-president of the Technical Commission of Referees has assured SER 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 accusation, admitting that it had paid Negreiro, but also saying that it was technical advice.

“In view of the information broadcast today on the programme Què t’hi jugues on Ser Catalunya, FC Barcelona, aware of the facts investigated by the Public Prosecutor’s Office in connection with payments to external companies, wishes to make it clear::

that FC Barcelona has in the past commissioned the services of an external technical consultant to provide technical reports to the club’s technical secretariat regarding young players in Spain in the form of video recordings,” Barcelona said in a statement.

“In addition, the relationship with the external provider has been extended to include technical reports relating to professional refereeing in order to supplement the information required by first and reserve team coaches, which is common practice in professional football clubs,” the Catalan club added.

Source: SER Catalunya