Barcelona e Espanyol met in the final of spanish super cupin 2006. In addition to the fascination provided by the legendary team in which Messi began to emerge, a controversy marked that game. At the time, it seemed like something minor, to be swallowed up by Barcelona’s unquestionable performance. Almost 17 years later, however, matches like that one, won 3-0 by Barcelona, have resurfaced in public opinion with a hint of doubt, which could tarnish the entire sublime season of the Catalan team.
At the time, Espanyol demanded that the game be contested, claiming that Barcelona had chosen two players irregularly: Xavi e puyol, withdrawn from the selection on the grounds that they were injured. Under current FIFA law, Espanyol’s board said, Barcelona would have to wait five days after the Spanish match to use the players. Espanyol’s claim was rejected by RFEF (Royal Spanish Football Federation).
Initiated in May 2022, an investigation by the Spanish Public Ministry, released earlier this year, pointed out that Barcelona, between 2001 and 2018, paid 7.3 million euros to the company Danisl 95, owned by the former referee and vice president. of the CTA (Technical Committee of Referees), of the Royal Spanish Federation itself, José Maria Enríquez Negreira, 77 years old, claiming to be paying for consulting services.
But based on the investigations, a series of games such as the 2006 Super Cup final, according to the complainants, was possibly influenced by the club’s relationship with a senior official who was in charge of decisions regarding local arbitration. What is talked about in Spain is framing results.
“It is a serious and worrying complaint against one of the biggest clubs in the world, which made history by playing beautifully and winning competitions. They are investigating whether all the millions received by this gentleman, over the years, by Barcelona, did not interfere with the results on the pitch. With regard to hiring a person linked to arbitration to provide some type of service for a club, Barcelona’s case is unique, so far. Spain and Europe are very concerned about this complaint”, says the Italian Luca Caioli, correspondent in Madrid, from Sky Tg24.
Caioli explains that many clubs on the continent, involved in complaints, are closely following the outcome of the Barcelona case. The case is being called “Barçagate”, in an allusion to the Watergate case, a political scandal that took place in mid-1972 in the US whose investigations led to the resignation, in 1974, of then-president Richard Nixon, from the Republican Party. Watergate has become an emblematic case of corruption.
“There are several cases that point to a climate of great distrust in relation to the management of several clubs. Everyone is aware of what is happening and wants to know what the consequences will be, because this could be something that, if there is a punishment, will affect all management of European clubs”, says Caioli.
A resident of Madrid since 2001, Caioli has become an expert on topics related to Barcelona, having written the biography of Ronaldinho Gaúcho, Messi, Neymar and Luis Suárez, among others.
worried government
According to Spain’s Cadena Ser network, documents obtained by Football Leaks show that Barça’s first payment to Negreira, who assumed the vice-presidency of the CTA in 1994, took place during the tenure of Joan Gaspart, in 2001, and was billed through Dasnil 95. Barcelona are being denounced for continued corruption in business, forgery of documents and mismanagement of payments to Negreira.
The CTA is responsible for organizing the entire national football referee system, the equivalent of the CBF Referee Commission. In Spain, however, there is a peculiarity in sports legislation, in which federations and leagues have autonomy, but with government control over the legislation. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez called for investigations.
“The Spanish Football Federation is going to open investigations into the case. Let’s hope that the bodies in charge of good governance of the Spanish LaLiga clarify the situation that unfortunately we are learning about through the media”, said Sánchez, in February, bothered by the situation of the Barcelona.
“If these facts are confirmed, they are very serious and harm Spanish football and sport as a whole. Miquel Iceta. A council of ministers also analyzes the process. The case is no longer just in the sports sphere.
The agreement between Barça and the former referee, according to the prosecutors, was that Negreira “in his capacity as vice-president of the CTA and in exchange for money, carried out actions with a tendency to favor Barcelona in making the decision of the referees in the matches disputed by the club, and, thus, in the results of the competitions”.
According to the text presented to the Court, Negreira issued billing invoices to Barcelona without a specific service or “provision of real advice”.
on the defensive
Barcelona defends itself by stating that Negreira was hired as an external technical consultant, to teach refereeing issues to youth players and subsequently produce reports regarding refereeing aimed at the professional team. Both the club and Negreira guarantee that there was never any kind of favoritism in the games.
Between 2016 and 2018 alone, the investigation tracked at least 33 deposits, totaling 1.4 million euros, made by Barcelona to Negreira. The former referee’s son, Javier Enríquez Romero, is also being investigated, including on suspicion of having leaked to Barcelona the name of the referee who would referee the 2016-17 Copa del Rey final against Alavés.
risk of punishment
The position of LaLiga, which counts on First Division clubs, is that Barcelona cannot be punished sportingly because, according to the local Sports Law, the three-year period for the complaint has expired.
“In the competence of La Liga and the Royal Federation, private entities representing Spanish football in the Fifa system, and of the Superior Council of Deportes, a public entity, by virtue of Spanish legislation, the conduct of the club should not be punished nationally, due to the statute of limitations , the loss of the right to punish for the period that has elapsed”, argues Luiz Fernando Aleixo Marcondes, Master in Sports Law from the University of Lérida, in Catalonia, Spain.
LaLiga, says Marcondes, is a private entity linked to the Fifa system through recognition by the RFEF. Both, despite having autonomy, are linked to the Superior Council of Sports, the highest body for Sports in Spain, which defined this legislation. Precisely for this reason, in Europe, Barcelona can face heavy penalties, completes Marcondes.
“However, Fifa and Uefa, by virtue of their statutes and rules of ethics and discipline, also have competence to analyze the case. Uefa, for example, could analyze the case in the light of its disciplinary regulations, which provide minimum penalty for the club a simple reprimand, which could lead to disqualification from current and future competitions or even withdrawal of the license”.
In the event of a license withdrawal, Barcelona would lose its link to the Uefa/Fifa system. This would only occur after the process becomes final and unappealable, which would include the possibility of the club appealing to the TAS-CAS (Court of Arbitration for Sport). “In theory, to return, the club would need to undergo a new affiliation to the Uefa/Fifa system through a new affiliation to the RFEF system. But we know that this is an extreme penalty, which would hardly be applied in this specific case”, observes Marcondes .
The lawyer also says that, if found guilty, the accused leaders will also suffer punishment. “For the people involved, the minimum penalty would also be a simple reprimand, which could go as far as banning them from carrying out any activity related to football.”
In addition to Negreira, Sandro Rosell and Josep Maria Bartomeu, former presidents of the club, and executives Oscar Grau and Albert Soler were denounced. The agreement with Barcelona, according to Cadena Ser, ended in 2018, in Bartomeu’s administration, which would have irritated Negreira.
football corruption
For the Spanish correspondent Caioli, this case reflects a nebulous specter that plagues European football. All the “glamour”, organization and technical quality have, on many occasions, served to hide crimes such as money laundering, tax evasion, match-fixing and promiscuous relations with public authorities.
Real Madrid itself, which released a note asking that Barcelona be investigated, has also been the subject of a serious complaint. In 2001, the club was criticized for carrying out an urban operation, considered by many to be a scandal. He sold land in Castellana, which, according to the newspaper La Vanguardia, was expropriated during the regime of dictator Francisco Franco (1936-1975) so that the club could build non-profit sports facilities.
Accused, however, of failing to comply with the initial agreement, the Madrid club sold the area, where four commercial towers were built. And he built Real Madrid City in Valdebebas, in another location, inaugurated in 2005.
With the operation, Real Madrid made a huge profit, paying off its debts and starting an era of huge investments in football, which led to the formation of the “galácticos” team and to help inflate world football. The deal took place during the first administration of Florentino Pérez, current president of Real Madrid.
“In the beginning, this revolted unions, a good part of public opinion, people who felt harmed, but then everyone seemed to conform”, recalls Caioli.
In England, clubs like Manchester City are being accused of committing financial crimes, such as false financial records. The club is also seen as a front to improve the image of the authoritarian UAE regime, which owns City.
The same suspicion surrounds Newcastle, which became the property of an investment fund led by Mohammad bin Salman, crown prince of Saudi Arabia, another dictatorship, and accused of ordering the murder of opposition journalist Jamal Khashoggi, in 2018.
In France, the management of Paris Saint-Germain is viewed with suspicion due to the fact that the club is owned by the government of Qatar, another country ruled by a ruthless dictatorship. Recently, the Italian Juventus was punished – once again in its history -, this time with the loss of 15 points in the Italian Championship because of tax fraud in the signing of players.
“European football is being controlled by billionaire clubs and even by states. Increasingly, it has received contributions with very large figures. Money has become the protagonist. At this moment, many clubs consider that they can do anything, the limits have been lost. it’s dangerous, European football has become a big bubble and you don’t know when it will burst”, adds Caioli.
