Controversy is brewing after it was discovered that FC Barcelona paid money to the former vice-president of the refereeing technical committee during the past president Joseph Bartomeu.
American media Forbes reported on the 15th (Korean time) that “Barcelona is facing a crisis by paying 1.4 million euros (about 2 billion won) to the referee.”
Forbes continued, “Barcelona could face extreme punishment, such as a demotion or a reduction in points, for paying 1.4 million euros to José María Henriquez Negreira, former vice-president of the Refereeing Skills Committee. This
was done while Bartomeu was in office. “he explained.
“Negreira worked for the Royal Spanish Football Association from 1994 to 2018, and the Barcelona Prosecutor’s Office is claiming that the Barcelona club paid money to a company he owns from 2016 to 2018.” added.
Negreira is currently denying the allegations. Phobos said, “In the prosecution testimony, Negreira denied that he had ever given preferential treatment to referee decisions, and claimed that he received money for the purpose of giving advice on how players should behave to referees and the propensity of each referee.” drew a line
However, according to reports, there is no document that Negreira provided Barcelona with the same services as he testified. Also, he is unable to prove that he advised.
Regarding this, Negreira is claiming that there is no report because it was verbal advice.
Barcelona also issued a statement related to the allegations and denied the allegations.
Barcelona said on its official website on the 15th, “In the past, the club contracted with an external technical advisor and received video-format technical reports from youth players from other clubs in Spain. They also asked for referee-related reports to supplement the information coaches wanted, which is common,” he said, noting that contracting with Negreira’s company was normal and had no problems.
He expressed regret that this news appeared at the time of leading the league.
“We regret that this information regarding Barcelona appeared precisely at the best moment of the season. Barcelona will take legal action against any action that may damage the club’s reputation as a result of this information,” said Barcelona. expressed its position.
Barcelona (56 points), which led the league under coach Xabi Hernandez this season, widened the gap with Real Madrid (45 points) in second place to 11 points.
Attention is focusing on whether Barcelona, who took the opportunity to lift the championship cup again after the 2018/19 season, will turn on a red flag for the championship challenge due to past problems.