Real Madrid has officially written to UEFA demanding “firm” and “exemplary” disciplinary action against their arch-rivals Barcelona, regarding the historic payments made to the former vice president of the Spanish refereeing committee.
Barcelona reportedly paid companies linked to José María Enríquez Negreira over €7 million between 2001 and 2018. While the Catalan giants have consistently maintained that the money was for “technical reports on refereeing” and denied any bribery, Real Madrid insists that Barça clearly exerted “undue influence over the refereeing body.”
In an official statement, Los Blancos declared:
“These facts constitute, from the perspective of sports disciplinary law, a systemic risk of utmost severity for the integrity of competitions. They reveal the existence of a structure of undue influence over the refereeing body, incompatible with the essential principles of competitive equality, neutrality, impartiality, and unpredictability of sports outcomes.”
The Collapse of the Super League Pact and Legal Warfare
This aggressive move by Real Madrid comes after relations between the two El Clasico rivals soured significantly earlier this year, following the ultimate collapse of the European Super League project, which they had been co-leading.
In response, Barcelona launched a legal counter-attack. The club announced a criminal lawsuit against Real Madrid president Florentino Pérez for defamation, after Pérez labeled the Negreira case “the biggest scandal in the history of Spanish football” and repeatedly accused Barcelona of bribing referees.
