Barcelona charged with bribery in Negreira case and could face Champions League exclusion

The Negreria case is still looming around Barcelona as they face fresh accusations of suspected bribery that emerged against them.

According to El Debate, the Catalan club made payments to the former vice-president of the Technical Committee of Referees (CTA), Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira, from 2001 to 2018, and it was alleged that it was to influence match officials and their decisions.

Furthermore, this could result in the club being banned from the UEFA Champions League. Club president Joan Laporta have already spoken on this matter and confirmed that these payments were made for scout reports on referees and young players in Spain.

Judge Joaquin Aguirre, who is the examiner of the Negreira case, issued an order in which he maintains that Barcelona’s payments to Negreira would constitute an alleged crime of “bribery”.

Barcelona charged with bribery; club remain calm about the situation

The ruling issued on Thursday attributes the crime of bribery to the club and the rest of the defendants. Among them were former Barca presidents Josep Maria Bartomeu, Sandro Rosell, Negreira and his son.

According to Ferran Correas of SPORT, the club are not worried about the latest allegations made earlier. They feel calm about the situation because this was a scenario that the club’s legal team had already considered.

The club have insisted that there was never any match-fixing and that they have not found a single payment to a referee.

Xavi was also asked about the situation in the press conference ahead of their game against Sevilla. Xavi said:

“You know my opinion. I have never had the feeling that it has benefited us, never. A week from now there will be another piece of news, a month from now another one.”

“I have little time to reflect on things other than football. Not on these issues.”

The club have not released any statement regarding this matter.