Barcelona accused of bribery as part of referee corruption scandal — and faces ban

Barcelona's Camp Nou stadium was demolished and rebuilt into the Espai Barça complex over the summer, but doubts are growing. Photo: Getty Images/Joan Valls

Barcelona are facing bribery charges in a Spanish court over a refereeing scandal that could potentially see the club banned from football at a time when their finances are at their worst. dire situation, and Camp Nou demolished.

The final obstacle to a jury trial in the case of alleged illegal payments by Barcelona to Jose Maria Henriques Negreira, the former vice-president of the Spanish refereeing committee, was cleared on Thursday by the judge, which reviewed the prosecutor's case against the club and key persons.

Judge Joaquín Aguirre López ruled that the trial will continue over payments to Negreira of 7.7 million euros between 2001 and 2018 because, the club claims, these were “technical reports” on referees. The club itself is named among the defendants, as well as former presidents Josep Maria Bartomeu, Sandro Rosell and Negreira's son Javier Henriques.

If found guilty, the criminals will be sentenced to prison terms of three to six years. Barcelona itself could be debarred from trading as a professional football club, which would likely force the 124-year-old member-owned company into bankruptcy.

In Aguirre Lopez's comments on the case, he said he believed Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira was a government employee at the time of the alleged crimes, making the bribery charge more serious. The judge also said he believed the case demonstrated that the club had benefited from the referees. According to Spanish law, the decision will be made by a jury of nine people.

Barcelona are rebuilding the Camp Nou, which was demolished in the summer to make way for Barca's Espai complex, although there has been speculation in Spanish media about nervousness among the 20 or so investors who put up €1.5bn (£1.3bn) ). project. Although no one has publicly expressed concern about the prospect of the club being convicted in the Negreira case, the collapse of funding for the new stadium will leave Barcelona without a home.

In addition to the debt expected to build the stadium, there is still about 1.5 billion euros of debt to creditors accumulated during the recent presidency. This includes the sale last summer of some €700 million worth of future revenue streams that financed the creation of the title-winning team under Javi Hernandez last season.

While the club's exact liabilities are unknown, US investment bank Goldman Sachs is believed to be Barcelona's largest creditor. Although President Joan Laporta is the elected leader of the club, it is clear that the creditors have now effectively taken responsibility for it.

Despite huge liabilities and the threat of litigation, Laporta and his council decided to continue with the demolition of the stadium. They also continued to sign players in the last window, although mostly on loan and free agents, including Ilkay Gundogan, the former Manchester City player.

The club also faces a UEFA investigation into Negreira. Spanish courts have barred UEFA from disciplinary action against Barcelona, ​​Real Madrid and Juventus over the European Super League dispute. This means that UEFA can wait for the case to be completed in the Spanish court and make a decision. However, Juventus has already accepted the UEFA punishment in the form of a one-year ban.

This week in Spain it became known that Alex Barbani, managing director of Espai Barca, has left the project. Barcelona and all the accused deny any involvement in the Negreira case.