Uefa have confirmed receipt of a “large amount of documents” submitted by Real Madrid in relation to the ongoing investigation Barcelona on the so-called Negreira case.
governing body of European football has recognized that its ethics and discipline inspectors have obtained the file to review as part of their wider monitoring of the Catalan club, which follows months of pressure from the royal hierarchy.
What is the Negreira case?
The Negreira case is an ongoing investigation focused on payments of 7 million euros made by Barça to companies linked to José María Enríquez Negreira, the former vice-president of the CTA, between 2001 and 2018.
Madrid believes that it led to decisions on the field in favor of Barcelona.
Barça insist there was no crime and claim the payments were made to Negreira to act as a consultant on the technical aspects of arbitration.
The president of Real Madrid, Florentino Pérez, previously confirmed the preparation of an extensive dossier of 500 pages
after having described the controversy as “the biggest case of corruption in history”, and Madrid subsequently presented a formal request to claim the resumption of the sanctioning proceedings against its rivals considering that the allegations pose an “extremely serious danger to the integrity of the powers”.
The latest development comes amid improved institutional relations between Madrid, UEFA and the European Club Association, with the Spanish giants keen to ensure the issue is rigorously assessed at international level amid frustration over a perceived lack of traction at domestic level.
While UEFA reiterated that receipt of the file does not constitute the opening of formal disciplinary proceedings or immediate sanctions, it said the Madrid evidence is now under formal review by UEFA inspectors under the Article 31(4) investigation initially opened in March 2023.
At the heart of the dispute are historic payments of more than 7.5 million euros made between 2001 and 2018 to companies linked to former arbitration official José María Enríquez Negreira, a matter that has previously raised questions about potential competitive bans.
Barcelona continue to vigorously deny any wrongdoing, while the fees were strictly for legitimate external technical reports and advisory work on refereeing trends.
