September 29 – Police have raided the workplaces of the Spanish FA (RFEF) as a part of an investigation into Barcelona’s involvement in an ongoing refereeing scandal.

Barca face prices over funds made to Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira, a former vice-president of the RFEF’s refereeing committee, in return for beneficial selections.

In March prosecutors filed a grievance over alleged funds Barca produced from 2001 to 2018 totalling €7.3 million to an organization owned by Negreira, Dasnil 95.

Barcelona has constantly denied any wrongdoing or battle of curiosity, saying it paid for technical experiences on referees however by no means tried to affect officers. It has acknowledged paying Dasnil 95, which it described as “an exterior technical guide”, to compile video experiences on referees “with the purpose of complementing the data required by the teaching workers”.

The affair escalated when 18 of the 20 La Liga golf equipment issued an announcement to specific “deep concern” over the scenario, and Barcelona president Joan Laporta mentioned the membership would launch an inside investigation into the funds. UEFA additionally opened their very own formal investigation earlier this 12 months however allowed Barca to participate on this season’s Champions League.

The Guardia Civil confirmed that police had searched the workplaces of the refereeing committee on the federation’s headquarters close to Madrid. No arrests had been made and police had been performing on the orders of the decide who’s investigating the case.

The raids come scorching on the heels of the sexism scandal that has engulfed Spanish soccer.

In the course of the years underneath investigation, Barcelona gained 9 Spanish league titles and 6 Copa del Rey trophies.

The accusations are in opposition to Barcelona, Negreira, former Barcelona presidents Sandro Rosell and Josep Maria Bartomeu, and former Barcelona executives Óscar Grau and Albert Soler.

Getting experiences on referees is frequent apply in Spain however paying massive quantities of cash to an individual concerned within the operating of Spain’s referees for such experiences just isn’t.

La Liga president Javier Tebas mentioned Thursday that the Negreira case “is inflicting us a variety of harm.”

“The mere truth that somebody would attempt to affect (a referee) is punishable underneath Spanish regulation,” Tebas mentioned. “The investigation is ongoing, however a membership paying Negreira is a really critical irregularity.”

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