Don’t think that it’s just in England that clubs are instigating legal action against each other. In Spain the tensions between metropolitan Spain and Catalonia form the geopolitical backdrop to tensions between Real and Barca. My great-granddaughter is taught in Valnecios which is really a variant of Catalan which in turn is closer to French than Spanish.
UEFA says it has received “a substantial amount of documents” from Real Madrid in relation to Barcelona’s payments to a former Spanish referees chief. European football’s governing body released a statement on Thursday confirming the documents will be “assessed” by its “ethics and disciplinary inspectors” as part of an “ongoing investigation”.
Payments totalling €8.4million (£7.2m; $9.4m at current rates), made by Barcelona between 2001 and 2018 to former Spanish referees committee vice-president Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira, first came to light in February 2023.
Back in June 2023, UEFA’s investigators decided against any punishment for Barcelona and they have continued to play in UEFA competition since.
Barcelona have repeatedly denied wrongdoing. At a press conference in April 2023, club president Joan Laporta said the club had made legitimate payments to an “external consultant” who provided reports “related to professional refereeing”. He said Barcelona had “not committed any activity with the purpose of altering the result of a competition, or receiving any sporting advantage”. A Barcelona court has been investigating the case since 2023. The investigation is still ongoing.
La Liga president Javier Tebas said in March 2023 that the competition body “could not take any action” because it happened too long ago. He said the case was “time-barred in sports law, but not in criminal law”. On Thursday, a Barcelona statement said UEFA had “not opened any new proceedings” against them.
It added: “Proceedings were initiated in 2023, with the appointment of two investigators who have since carried out the action they deemed appropriate. The club has always complied with all their requests. These proceedings have not been reopened because they have never been closed.
“It is up to the investigators to determine what action, if any, they consider appropriate regarding this documentation. As of today, they have not made any new requests to Barcelona nor have they forwarded Real Madrid’s complaint to the club. Should they do so, the club will respond accordingly.”
A Real Madrid statement said: “The complaint filed by our club includes extensive documentation and evidence regarding events of extraordinary seriousness, which directly affect the integrity of the competition and confidence in the refereeing system.
Vitriolic exchanges between the clubs have occurred regularly since Real Madrid decided to formally enter the Negreira case as a damaged party in April 2023. Laporta responded at the time by claiming that “Madrid was historically favoured in refereeing decisions, it was the team of the regime, close to political, economic and sporting power for 70 years”.
The ‘regime’ Laporta was referring to was the dictatorship of General Francisco Franco, who ruled Spain from 1939 until his death in 1975. Relations between Madrid and Barca have also been damaged over the Catalan club’s exit from the European Super League project, which was officially confirmed in February.
The Catalan club said they have filed a request for a conciliation hearing, which allows the potential defendant — Perez, in this case — to retract his statement before full legal proceedings begin. Barcelona said if Perez does not retract what he said, they will file a criminal complaint against him.