A recent report by Cadena Ser and As could cause a massive domino effect in Spanish football, as Barcelona have been accused of paying the Vicepresident of the Spanish Referees' Office over $1.5M between 2016 and 2018.
The agreement between Barça and José Enriquez Negreira was labeled as "counseling services" for the Catalan side, although the parties involved have denied that those payments had anything to do with the appointment of referees that would favor Los Culés in their quest to win titles. Nevertheless, there is ground for suspicion as Barcelona won two titles during that period, and to make matters even more questionable, the amount of red cards handed to their rivals and penalties awarded to the Blaugrana side make matters a bit shady.
The investigation by Ser and As revealed that the company DASNIL 95, who had Enriquez Negreira as its top partner, received payments by Barcelona for €532,728.02 in 2016 (around $568,218), for €541,752 (around $577,844) in 2017, and for €318,200 (around $339,398) in 2018. The relationship between Barcelona and DASNL 95 concluded in June 2018, the date when Enriquez Negreira left his position as vicepresident for the Referees' office in Spain.
According to the report, Barcelona made this payments "to receive technical advice, so they could guarantee that referees did not make any decisions against them and everything was neutral," as per the document shown by As. If this is taken further by the Spanish football Association, football's governing body in Spain could find a conflict of interest between Enriquez Negreira's activity and Barcelona, as no member of the Referees' office should have a commercial relationship with any of the teams that could drop any shade on any results on the pitch.
Reactions to this probe by the Spanish IRS have revealed that the Spanish Federation has agreed to further investigate this matter to clarify any wrongdoing.
"We regret this information has been released during our best moment in the season" - Barcelona's reaction to earlier reports.
There was a major reaction expected from the Catalan club after these revelations, and while Barcelona have admitted they paid Enriquez Negreira's company for "technical advice", the club has denied any wrongdoing on this matter.
"FC Barcelona hired in the past the services of an external technical consultant, who supplied reports in video format regarding players from lower-tier categories to the club's board. The relationship with that company increased when they provided technical reports related to professional refereeing to give further information to the first team and its lower categories, which is a common practice among professional teams," the document states.
The document also questioned the timing of these accusations to emerge, dropping a hint on how these reports could be used to destabilize the team's form during a tough moment in the season.
"FC Barcelona regrets this information has been released during our best moment in the season. FC Barcelona will execute legal action against whoever tries to tarnish the image of this club with insinuations contrary to the entity's reputation," the document adds.
There is no clear indication on what could happen to Barcelona if these accusations are confirmed. Nevertheless, sources close to the Spanish federation are already discussing a massive penalty against Los Culés, which could include points being deducted or being relegated from the Spanish top-flight.
