The president of Madrid’s Real, Florentino Pérez, speaking at the Royal Club assembly, criticized Barcelona for the 'Negreira case'.
Florentino Pérez (center; photo: gettyimages.com)«It’s abnormal that 'Barcelona' paid the Vice President of the Referees' Committee over 28 million euros for at least eight years. Whatever the reason, it’s abnormal. He had key functions in the refereeing system, including promotions and demotions. All this coincided with the period that, by coincidence, became the most successful for 'Barcelona' in our country,» Pérez is quoted by Sport.es.
Let us recall that in 2023, the blue and garnet team was accused of bribery in payments to the former Vice President of the Technical Committee of Referees (CTA), José María Negreira, who worked in the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF). 'Barcelona' was accused of making these payments from 2001 to 2018.
According to 'Blaugrana’s' version, the club hired Negreira as an external consultant for compiling technical reports on refereeing. In 2024, the Spanish court dropped the bribery charges against 'Barcelona' and several of its current and former presidents, ruling that Negreira is not considered a civil servant according to Spanish law.
