A referee scandal has shocked La Liga at a time when FC Barcelona seemed to be doing well.
This is the best time of the season for FC Barcelona. They are comfortably in first place in La Liga for 2022-2023, they beat Real Madrid in the Spanish Super Cup, and they are in the semifinals of the traditional Spanish Cup (Copa del Rey).
Even though Barcelona didn’t make it past the group stage of the Champions League, they still have a chance to win an international title because they are the favourites to win the Europa League in 2022-2023. Under coach Xavi Hernandez, the club seems to be back on track in a very important re-building process.
But a huge scandal has broken out in La Liga, which hurts the reputation of FC Barcelona. Read on to learn more about the scandal that has shocked Spain and the rest of the soccer world.
La Liga referee scandal hits FC Barcelona
Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira, who was vice president of the Technical Committee of Referees for the Spanish Soccer Federation from 1994 to 2018, is at the centre of all the trouble. Cadena Ser said on a radio show in Catalonia that between 2016 and 2018, FC Barcelona gave 1.4 million euros to DASNIL 95, a company that Negreira owns.
Right now, the Catalan government is looking into the matter as part of a tax inspection of the company to see how that much money was taxed. Cadena SER says that Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira and his son have already said they will explain where the money came from.
During his statement to the police, Enriquez Negreira said that FC Barcelona did not get special treatment because of the payments. Enriquez said that the club hired him as a consultant to show the players how to act with the referees during games. But Enriquez Negreira didn’t send any proof to the Tax Office in Catalonia to back up this version.
When the trouble started, FC Barcelona put out a formal statement. “After the news came out today on the radio show “Qué t’hi jugues” on the Catalonian station Cadena Ser, FC Barcelona, which knows that the authorities are looking into payments made to outside companies, wants to clear things up. In the past, FC Barcelona hired the services of an outside technical consultant. This consultant gave the club’s Technical Secretary technical reports on players in Spain’s lower leagues on video.”
“Also, the relationship with the outside provider was strengthened by adding technical reports about professional refereeing to give the coaching staff of our first team more information. It’s something that most professional clubs do. FC Barcelona is upset that this news comes at the best time of the season for us.”
