Real Madrid accuse Barcelona of sporting corruption in leaked letter

Real Madrid accuse Barcelona of sporting corruption in leaked letter

Three years on from the Negreira case first coming to light, Barcelona and Real Madrid are still clashing over the matter. The Catalans have been accused of several crimes in relations to payments they made to former Technical Committee of Referees vice-president Enriquez Negreira, and a legal case is currently ongoing.

One of the charges that has been levelled against Barcelona is sporting corruption, and in a letter made public by Xavier Estrada Fernández (via Diario AS), Real Madrid have accused their Clasico rivals of exactly that.

“Given the general tone in the statements of the referees and former referees, it was that the system of control and evaluation of the performance of the referees, in which Mr. Enríquez Negreira had a special role, was arbitrary and perverted, the promotion and professional career of the referees depending on the mere will of those responsible for the CTA.

“Certainly, the incriminating elements that already existed when the Order of 14/3/2024 was issued, plus various additional elements that have been added as the police investigation progressed, amply justify the continuation of the present procedure by the procedures of the Abbreviated Procedure, and they undoubtedly allow us to enunciate a continued behaviour of sports corruption, with criminal roots and attributable to all those investigated.”

Barcelona continue to deny any wrongdoing

Throughout the last three years, Barcelona have regularly denied any wrongdoing regarding their payments to Negreira. They state that they paid for scouting reports on referees, which were , Carles Naval.