Barcelona accused of bribing referee organization with £1.2m
Barcelona have been accused of paying more than £1 million to a company linked to a former senior referee.
Cadena SER, the Spanish radio station, alleged that the club paid almost €1.4 million (£1.24 million) to the company DASNIL 95 SL between 2016 and 2018.
The company is part-owned by José María Enríquez Negreira, who was on Spain’s refereeing committee until 2018, having previously officiated in La Liga between 1977 and 1992.
Barcelona confirmed they worked with external companies to gather information on refereeing, but denied there was anything untoward about the practice and said it was commonplace.
“We always analyse the referees, of course, and have done for a long time,” Xavi , who was appointed head coach in November 2021, said when asked about the report.
“For many years that has been the case, there is nothing new about that. I wasn’t at the club at the time but, obviously, I defend the club’s interests.”
Barcelona suggested the information had been leaked to sully their image, saying in a statement that they would be taking legal action “against those who are trying to tarnish the club’s image with possible insinuations against its good reputation”.
Cadena SER said it had seen documents submitted to the Spanish authorities that showed three payments to the company. The revelations have led to calls for La Liga to take action against the club.
Barcelona said in a statement: “In the past, [the club] hired the services of an external consultant that supplied the club’s technical secretaries with reports in video format of youth players from other clubs in Spain.
“Additionally, the relationship with that supplier extended to technical reports related to professional refereeing in order to complement the information requested by the first and second-team coaching staff. This is a common practice among professional football clubs.”
The documents obtained by Cadena SER suggested Barcelona had been sourcing such information since 2003.
