Barcelona has announced they are exploring legal options in response to statements made by Real Madrid President Florentino Perez during a press conference. While announcing early elections for Real Madrid, Perez also revealed that the club intends to submit a dossier concerning the Negreira case to UEFA, citing a perceived lack of action from Spanish authorities.
Barcelona is currently facing accusations of sporting corruption in Spain. The investigation stems from payments totaling approximately €7-8 million made over 17 years to Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira, the former Vice-President of the Referees Committee. Barcelona vehemently denies any wrongdoing, asserting that the payments were for consultancy services and scouting reports on referees. The case is presently in its pre-trial phase, focusing on testimony collection.
Perez stated, “Three years ago we learned about the Negreira Case. The biggest scandal in history. They’ve been paying for two decades, but now it’s the same referees for this third decade. We will present a substantial dossier to UEFA so they can tackle this at its root and resolve the case for the good of world football.”
Negreira Dossier to Span 500 Pages
Perez further characterized LaLiga as Real Madrid’s “perennial enemy” and disclosed that the dossier being prepared for UEFA would comprise 500 pages.
He added, “Of course, there’s also our perennial enemy, LaLiga. We’re going to fight. I’m fighting against all of them. The systemic corruption of the Negreira Case… How can we just forget it? We’re preparing a 500-page dossier that I’ll send to UEFA when the season is over. I’ve already spoken with them. There’s no precedent for this in the history of world football. It’s the biggest corruption case ever.”
Real Madrid’s relationship with UEFA has seen recent improvement following their withdrawal from the Super League initiative.
Perez commented on this, stating, “We won with the Super League at the CJEU, and now we’re negotiating with UEFA. We want free football, so that children in Africa can watch football for free, like they do with the Club World Cup. This isn’t just for Real Madrid, it’s for the good of football. UEFA has realised this and we’re making progress in a very positive way.”
“Helping Barcelona” Clarification
In 2024, Florentino Perez had previously remarked at Real Madrid’s General Assembly that clubs like Barcelona and Real Madrid “have to help each other.” When questioned about this comment, he inaccurately claimed it predated the Negreira case revelations.
Perez clarified, “That was long before the Negreira case. We only recently learned about it; we couldn’t have imagined that the head of the referees was distributing money from Barcelona for two decades. This issue has come to light late. Since then, we’ve been compiling a dossier and we’re going to get to the bottom of it. It’s the biggest corruption case in the history of football. For the good of football. Nobody in the world would even consider paying off referees. It’s inconceivable.”
He further elaborated, “We’ve been left empty-handed, and I’ve been here I don’t know how many seasons and I’ve only won seven European Cups and seven league titles, which could have been 14 because they’ve been stolen from me. We’ve made a video about the 18 points they’ve taken from us this season. I can’t stay silent about that. I don’t want to be showered with praise all day, but this conspiracy between some people at SER, others at COPE… No, that’s not enough.”
Perez indicated that Real Madrid members support his stance against the Negreira case and unspecified “others.”
He concluded, “The Real Madrid members are with me in my fight against Negreira and the others. It’s not always Real Madrid that suffers; other teams do too. Barça always benefits. UEFA will get involved in this matter, they will. It’s unacceptable that they’re under suspicion of corruption paid for over 20 years. We’ll see what happens in both the criminal and sporting aspects with UEFA. And we’ll see what happens. UEFA has agreed for us to send the entire dossier. I didn’t come here to let the referees get rich off Barcelona’s money. I came here to fight.”
Barcelona Announces Potential Legal Action
Following Perez’s press conference, Barcelona released a statement confirming that their legal department is reviewing potential legal action in response to his accusations.