Explained | What is the latest scandal involving F.C. Barcelona? Premium
The Hindu
A look at the refereeing controversy involving Barcelona, which has surfaced as the club is still trying to recover from one of its worse financial crises and the departure of Lionel Messi
Spanish football was rocked last month when it became public that Barcelona has paid millions of euros to possibly benefit from refereeing decisions for more than a decade.
Barcelona was paying a company that belonged to the vice president of the country’s refereeing committee.
The club has denied wrongdoing but is being widely criticised across Spain, and prosecutors on Friday formally accused the club of corruption.
Here’s a look at the latest scandal involving Barcelona, which surfaced as the club is still trying to recover from one of its worse financial crises and the departure of Lionel Messi.
Prosecutors say Barcelona paid as much as €7.3 million ($7.7 million) from 2001-18 to the company of committee vice president José María Enríquez Negreira in amounts "not justified because they were not foreseen in the statutes of the club nor approved by its general assembly (of club members).”
The payments were allegedly made in exchange for technical reports on referees and youth players, though apparently in amounts above market prices.
Getting reports on referees is common practice and clubs can pay other companies or have them prepared internally, as Barcelona now does. But giving large amounts of money to the company of a person involved in the running of Spain’s referees for the reports is not a normal practice.