The corruption scandal that Barcelona has been dealing with for some time is taking on increasingly strange forms. Earlier it was leaked that José María Enriquez Negreira, former referee and vice president of the referee committee of the Spanish federation, received money from the Catalans. Mundo Deportivo now knows what gifts Negreira bought to give to referees.
The Negreira case has graced the headlines in Spain for weeks. Barcelona is suspected of making millions in payments to a company owned by Negreira. In total, it would be an amount of six million euros, spread over a period from 2000 to 2018. Barcelona has now been charged with corruption, which in the worst case could lead to a relegation from LaLiga.
According to Mundo Deportivo that six million euros was used to appease referees. Negreira would have bought a lot of gifts from the arbitrators through his company. These include belts, beach umbrellas, cool bags, cheese, wine and liqueur. Referees were also taken to expensive restaurants, where they dined for at least 2000 euros per evening. Negreira has already reacted to the news by saying that he handed out these gifts spontaneously. He would also have been reimbursed.
On Tuesday, the former referee boss already had to explain the money he received from Barcelona. According to Negreira, this had nothing to do with bribery. “I watched matches and informed the club why certain decisions were made by the referee in question. My job was to give technical advice on refereeing, because Barcelona wanted everything around the referees to be neutral.”