Did Barcelona paid a bribe for referees?

Barcelona team is considered one of the largest teams spread around the world due to the presence of a large number of shining stars in it, and the team is always in the ranks of the advanced teams, but on the morning of Wednesday, February 15, 2023, Radio Cadena Ser revealed a great scandal that affects Barcelona team in a harmful way, and it was accused of paying a bribe, Did Barcelona paid a bribe to the referees?  This is what we will know in our article today.

Did Barcelona paid a bribe for referees

Barcelona team gained great popularity, especially during the period when the legend Lionel Messi was in its ranks, and the Barcelona team achieved glory for a long period between 2009 and 2015, then it began to decline as a result of a group of economic and administrative Troubles, so could the bribe be the last scandle that ends a great era.

what was the story

The story, in full and in brief, is that the president of Barcelona,   Mr. Jose Maria Bartomeu, paid 1.4 million euros between 2016 and 2018 to a company specialized in technical and tactical matters to provide services to the team.

The tactical and technical company belongs to Mr. Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira, and he was in the position of Vice-Chairman of the Referees Committee in the Spanish League.

when the Chief Prosecutor investigated the books of the subsidiary company, he found some gaps that were not proven by any contract or evidence.

La Liga referee

the gaps included that Barcelona team paid an amount 1.400 euros for the benefit of the company in order to receive a set of tactical advice that is useful in training both the first and second teams on how to deal with referees and what is the best mechanism to overcome opponents.

in addition to providing a number of distinguished technical explanations that are supported by artificial intelligence.

All these services are done verbally or through video clips without signing any contracts between the two parties, and an investigation will be opened in this matter directly.

Barcelona's response

In turn, Barcelona team justified all the events by saying that all teams in the world in this period depend on a group of companies specialized in providing football advice, whether in the technical or tactical field, to obtain the best methods and information and achieve positive results.

The team expressed its regret for issuing this information during the special period, which the team is experiencing in the season after achieving a large number of victories and leading the Spanish League by eight points far from Real Madrid, in addition to being the best defense in the league by conceding only seven goals.

Laporta knows nothing about the bribe

so Barcelona considered that the accusations against it were invalid as a result of the absence of any evidence or conclusive evidence proving the involvement of the team with the vice-president of the Spanish Referees Committee.

in addition to considering that all technical advice and guidance is normal and all teams need it to improve their performance in training sections and in official matches.

Negreira's company respons

So far, Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira's company has not submitted any documents, evidence, or even an official response explaining the situation and justifying the existence of an amount of 1,400 thousand euros paid by Barcelona for the benefit of the company so far.

which necessitated the General Investigating Judge to open an investigation into the investigation of the facts that occurred at the time, not because of a transaction between the company and Barcelona club because that is normal.

Negreira tried to have an additional income

the investigation were because the CEO of the company works within the arbitration capacity of the Spanish League organization, and he is not allowed to deal with any of the teams in the Spanish league arrangement, and any relationship with those clubs will be dealt with great suspicion.

Jose Maria Bartomeu's response

Mr. Jose Maria Bartomeu admitted that he had dealt with the Negrera's company and had obtained a set of technical football tips related to training both the first team and the second team.

But he mentioned that these agreements had existed for a long time during the era of former president Joan Gaspart, former director of Barcelona club from  From 2000 to 2003, in addition to the Juan Laporta, whose term extended from 2003 to 2010, and that his mission was to complete the work done by the previous managers.

Jose Maria Bartomeu admitted dealing with a referee

When the two former managers were asked, Johan Gasbert denied knowing these matters at all, and that he did not know that there were any amount of money paid to one of the members of the arbitration staff. As for Juan Laporta, he was content with silence and did not give any answer, neither negative nor affirmative.

What is the possible Punishment for both parties

Nothing official has been issued yet related to the penalties imposed on each of the company or on FC Barcelona, and everything that has been published on the media so far is the jurisprudence of journalists, nothing more.

The penalties that the Barcelona team may be exposed to vary, and the least penalties may be the imposition of specific financial fines on the team, the penalty may reach the point of deducting points from the team that sits at the top of the Spanish League.

And the number of deducted points will vary, which may make Barcelona exposed to the risk of losing the league or losing qualification to the Champions League.

punishments are taken by the court

The maximum penalty, of course, will be the relegation of the team to the second degree, but these penalties are not included because there is no definitive evidence of the team’s dealings with the company in the absence of contracts or official papers.

 As for the company specialized in modern technologies, it will also be subject to a package of penalties, and one of these penalties will certainly be a financial fine resulting from the failure to sign a contract with an official party with which an agreement was made.

The penlalty can be also for the presence of fake amount of money in its records, and the company may be exposed to a great danger that threatens its existence in the event that the decision is harsh by the court.

Notes

• Is it reasonable for FC Barcelona to pay a bribe to a company directly run by the vice-president of the arbitration committee?
• Is there a relationship between this issue and the Super League that was founded by three teams, namely Barcelona, Real Madrid and Juventus? 
• Is deducting points from the Juventus teams also related to the issue.
• What is the relationship of the president of the Spanish League, Javier Tebas, with the problem that occurred between Barcelona team and the refree committee, especially after Javier Tebas announced the mistakes and problems of Barcelona club and tried to discredit Barcelona because of their non-acceptance of the CVC agreement.

when collecting ideas, you find that the local federations are trying to fight the teams that tried to form the Super League two years ago.

And here we come to the conclusion of our article, we presented Barcelona case and dealing with the technology and training company affiliated with the vice-chairman of the League Referees Committee, and offered all possible answers to the question, did Barcelona pay a bribe to the referees? We hope you have benefited from the article and we thank you for reading it.