José María Enríquez Negreira denied in his statement before the Tax Agency having paid the referees to favor FC Barcelona. This is stated in the summary of the Negreira case to which La Vanguardia has had access. The former referee assured that Barça hired him because “so they were calm that in the arbitration committee there were no decisions against Futbol Club Barcelona, ??that everything was neutral.” And when asked if he paid any referee, Negreira answered emphatically: “No.”
Between 2001 and 2018, Barça paid the amount of 7.3 million euros to Negreira’s company for supposed advice to face matches at the arbitration level. “FC Barcelona considered that the team was being harmed and other teams were being favored. My obligation was to give my opinion about the matches in terms of refereeing and the players. Barça wanted to make sure that no decisions were made against them and that everything was neutral, ”he indicated.
Thus, when asked about what his work for Barça consisted of, Negreira replied that he went to watch the games and was informed of why certain decisions were made. In fact, he gave several examples of what his functions were: “Requesting that the Competition Committee not be made up entirely of judges from Madrid, that the club have an interlocutor with the Federation who would take care of institutional relations, that the club always send representatives to the farewell tributes of the Primera referees when they finished their sports career, recommending which yellow cards or expulsions could be appealed after a game; inform or notify of any institutional visit of the Federation so that the club maintains good institutional relations; keep the club informed of possible interests or disagreements between the Federation and the LFP, or describe candidates to preside over the LFP”.
The relationship between Barça and Negreira ended when the latter ceased to be the vice president of the Technical Committee of Referees. A Treasury report that appears in the case indicates that between 2016 and 2019 Negreira would have had more than 550,000 euros in cash and would have made card payments of more than 130,000 euros.
In parallel, the prosecutor highlights that the ex-arbitrator did not see his assets increase, with which he suspects that “he was not the only and last recipient of all the funds.” In addition, there is another suspicious indication. Negreira’s son, who invoiced through the company of former director Josep Contreras, stopped providing the arbitration advisory and recording service when his father left the position of vice president of the referees committee.
Negreira’s deal with Barça lasted for 17 years. According to the Treasury, their contractual relationship began in 2001 under the presidency of Joan Gaspart. The former referee indicated that he met with Bartomeu and Rosell about six times a year. The summary contains a watsap that was exchanged with the club’s sports manager, Albert Soler, also charged in this case in February 2017. Negreira complains about the arbitration that Barça received.
“I have asked Mr. Contreras to give you the analysis of yesterday’s game as soon as possible. The errors in decisions (penalty, disallowed goal) were in favor of FCB, it was terrible in the way it led the game. The cards, correct, except Busquets. Remember, please, what I told you about Luis Suárez. We talk anytime”. Barça received the request from the Prosecutor’s Office in July 2022, responded that Negreira no longer had a contractual relationship with the club and attributed any responsibility to the former general director Òscar Grau and Albert Soler.
The summary also includes a series of reports made by the ex-referee for Barça, which include comments such as the following: “Take great care of Gil Manzano.” “Mateu Lahoz is better now with Messi”. “Bengoetxea is very close to Burgos”.
