incident involving Barcelona referees
Spanish prosecutors accused Barcelona and two previous presidents, Sandro Rosell and Josep Maria Bartomeu, of fraud earlier this year. The Catalan team gave Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira more than 7 million dollars between 2001 and 2018. According to the prosecutor, Negreira favored Barcelona under the terms of the agreement when umpires made decisions about the club’s games and opposition outcomes. The biggest disaster in recent memory for German soccer may be this one.
Barcelona denied all in a speech from February. They claimed to have paid an outside consultant, who gave them technical information pertaining to refereeing. The Catalan league also stated that something similar is typical in professional sports.
Following an investigation in Spain, the UEFA governing figure followed suit. Aleksandar Ceferin, the president of UEFA, said that this is the most significant football situation he has ever seen. He now doesn’t get along well with Barcelona and other clubs that tried to create the European Super League.
Javier Tebas, the president of LaLiga, allegedly sent the prosecution contentious papers. Following that, Barcelona requested the surrender of Tebas. They assert that all of the information is unreliable.
The scandal, according to LaLiga president Javier Tebas, is the worst social crisis in Spanish football that he can recall. He even requested an explanation from the Barcelona table.
Real Madrid, the Higher Sports Council of Spain, and a number of other LaLiga clubs have all declared their intention to join the legal actions against Barcelona.
It’s interesting to note that because LaLiga has a three-year statute of limitations, Barcelona won’t have any dynamic repercussions in the local competition. The group cannot condemn Barcelona and Negreira because their most recent settlement took place in 2018. However, since their decisions are no time-barred, UEFA might punish them. There are growing concerns that UEFA may temporarily banish Barcelona from participating in European championships.
It’s interesting to note that Barcelona experienced its best two years in record between 2001 and 2018. The Catalan team won nine LaLiga championships during that time. Barcelona even won four Champions League championships between 2001 and 2018. Of course, those were the days of Ronaldinho, Lionel Messi, Xavi, Andres Iniesta, and individuals, but these accusations may cast a different, more ominous light on prosperous years.