By Victor Kanayo
Fresh hard times seem to be coming the way of Spanish La Liga giants FC Barcelona, after the club allegedly paid a top referee official.
If found guilty, according to AFP reports, they might face huge points deduction or outright relegation.
Specifically, the club was accused of paying former Vice President of the Technical Committee of Referees, Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira, €1.4mn, during the rule of former president Josep Bartomeu.
Negreira held his role at the Royal Spanish Football Federation from 1994 to 2018.
From 2016 to 2018, the Barcelona Prosecutor’s Office alleges, Barca paid the amount to a company he owned named DASNIL 95.
Testifying before the prosecutor’s office, Negreira and his son denied that Barca ever received any preferential treatment as per refereeing decisions.
However, the club has denied ever inducing the referee but said it admitted that it had hired the services of an ‘external technical consultant,’ lamenting that the news has come at a time, when Barca are back on their feet, as La Liga leaders by some 11 points.
In a statement, Barcelona wrote, “Given the information broadcast today on the SER Catalunya program Què t’hi jugues, FC Barcelona, aware of the fact that the Prosecutor’s Office is investigating payments made to external companies, wants to make it clear.
“That FC Barcelona hired the services of an external technical consultant in the past, who supplied, in video format, technical reports referring to lower-category players in Spain for the Club’s technical secretariat.
“Additionally, the relationship with the external provider itself was extended with technical reports related to professional arbitration in order to complement the information required by the coaching staff of the first team and the reserves, a common practice in professional football clubs.
“Currently, this type of outsourced services falls to a professional assigned to the Soccer Area. FC Barcelona regrets that this information appears precisely at the best sporting moment of this season.”
