Negreira case: Authorities conclude that Barcelona paid Enriquez Negreira for “phantom reports”

The Negreira case has been going on in the background over the course of 2024 so far. The Prosecutor’s Office continues to investigate Barcelona on charges of sporting corruption over alleged payments that were made to Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira, former vice-president of the Technical Committee of Referees (CTA).

There’s been little media coverage of the matter in recent weeks, although that could soon be about to change. El Mundo have broken a major story in the case, which states that the Spanish Civil Guard have concluded that Barcelona paid Negreira a total of €7.5m for refereeing advice that has not been found – also referred to as “phantom reports”.

Barcelona, through president Joan Laporta, have stated on many occasions over the last 16 months (since the story first broke) that the payments to Negreira were used for refereeing reports, which they say was common for teams at the time. These latest findings now say that no much reports ever existed.

Furthermore, the Civil Guard also say that they’ve found €3m in the accounts of Negreira’s wife, which they say cannot be accounted for.

Barcelona have yet to issue a response to this latest report – their firm belief is that they are not guilty of any wrongdoing. It remains to be seen whether that is the result of the ongoing investigation into the matter.