. Through a video broadcast on the clubs official television channel later on Monday, they have replied to the message in which Laporta says that Real Madrid is the team of the Regime. LaLiga chief Javier Tebas has said Barca cannot face any sporting sanctions in Spain because more than three years has passed, but he has promised to revisit the case once the legal proceedings have reached a conclusion. FIFA could also step in, although world football's governing body has not yet responded to a request for comment on the latest developments from ESPN. The next day, Laporta made an emotionally charged and populist address to his clubs fans, deploring the ferocious attacks aimed at us to dirty our image. 9h. Gab Marcotti explains why LaLiga have to leave the investigation to the Spanish authorities. Just over a month has passed since and Barca have been charged with corruption over their relationship with Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira, who received 7.3million (6.4m; $7.8m) from the club between 2001 and 2018. Both the Spanish FA and Spains High Council for Sports, a governmental body, have previously toldThe Athleticthey will respect the legal process before considering any action of their own. He has also worked for The Times. La Liga chief executive Javier Tebas said last month that current president Joan Laporta should resign if he was unable to explain the payments. That is unclear. . Reuters reports that Neymars legal team may demand that DIS pay its fees for what they consider recklessness, acting in poor faith and for abuse of process. Subscribe to The Athletic for in-depth coverage of your favorite players, teams, leagues and clubs. Hopefully it wont influence anything and hell be able to whistle calmly., (Top photo: Alvaro Medranda/NurPhoto via Getty Images). FIFA could also step in, although world football's governing body has not yet responded to a request for comment on the latest developments from ESPN. The states withdrawal, though, may not be the end of the legal drama: The prosecutor suggested that DIS, a Brazilian sports investment company that jointly brought the case, could continue to pursue its claim for millions of dollars in damages in civil court. He has followed Los Blancos since 2019 at Diario AS, Goal.com and MARCA. Neymars legal team had argued for months that the Spanish case was without merit because private corruption is not a crime in Brazil, where the transfer had taken place. In the short term, we wait for developments at UEFAs end. Prosecutors in Spain confirmed Friday they have filed corruption charges against Barcelona and the club's former presidents Sandro Rosell and Josep Maria Bartomeu for payments made to the former vice president of the refereeing committee. - Stream on ESPN+: LaLiga, Bundesliga, more (U.S.). The Athletic has seen a large number of these leaked documents, and they reveal important details about the situation. 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Stream on ESPN+: LaLiga, Bundesliga, more (U.S.). The facts contradict those that are trying to tell a different story.". Real Madrid announced club president Florentino Perez would hold an emergency board meeting to discuss their next move. Enriquez Negreira has denied ever favouring Barcelona in terms of refereeing decisions. The Catalan club have admitted hiring an external consultant who provided reports related to professional refereeing but they and the individuals involved all deny any wrongdoing. Its been five years since those payments stopped and these kinds of breaches are time-barred in our rulebook three years after taking place.. Carlos Megia Davila, a referee with 219 La Liga games under his belt, has worked, entirely legitimately, for Real Madrids Institutional Relations department since retiring in 2009. The broader investigation confirmed payments from Barcelona to Enriquez Negreiras companies between 2001 and 2018 worth 7.3million (6.4m, $7.9m today). They have been charged with corruption concerning payments made to the former vice-president of Spanish footballs refereeing committee and his son, in a case brought by the Spanish public prosecutors office. My father always took care of it and always will. The latest twist involves the leaking of hundreds of pages of information related to the case, ranging from bank statements to court papers and documents from the tax authorities, prosecutors office and Spanish FA. 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Prosecutors had initially sought a two-year jail term and a 10-million-euro ($10.5 million) fine for Neymar but in a surprise move they dropped corruption and fraud charges against all the accused at the end of October. The Negreira case has dominated the media agenda in Spain. On Friday, they dropped the case. Spanish prosecutors have filed corruption charges against Barcelona and former club presidents Sandro Rosell and Josep Maria Bartomeu for allegedly making payments to a company owned by Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira, an ex-vice-president of the referee committee in Spain who worked under the Spanish football association between 1993 and 2018. Now all the referees meet once a week. Analysis and opinion from our chief football writer. Pol joined The Athletic in 2021, initially moving to Manchester to assist us with our Manchester City, Manchester United and Spanish reporting. 3. Enriquez Negreira has denied ever favouring Barcelona in terms of refereeing decisions. In June 2017, they made a payment of 90,000 for recordings and viewings of Spanish national team games. Brazilian footballer Neymar Jr. has been cleared off the fraud and corruption charges that were leveled against him over his transfer to Barcelona in 2013. Prosecutors had sought prison terms for Neymar and the other defendants. The 23 best things to do in D.C. this weekend and next week, NFL owners approve sale of Commanders from Daniel Snyder to Josh Harris. Try a week on us. A major part of their budget is spent on the massive wage bill. However, prosecutors, having reviewed payments made from 2014 to 2018, have now decided to also pursue charges against Rosell, Bartomeu, Grau and Soler. Payments made prior to that period do not appear on the indictment. Barcelona would be unable to face any specific charges from La Liga due to statue of limitations -- the league can only prosecute wrongdoing within three years -- but league chief Javier Tebas has promised to revisit the case if found guilty in the court of law. Enriquez Negreira has denied ever favouring Barcelona in terms of refereeing decisions. The latest rumours and stories from around the world of football. WHAT HAPPENED? (2:22). LaLiga chief Javier Tebas has said Barca cannot face any sporting sanctions in Spain because more than three years has passed, but he has promised to revisit the case once the legal proceedings have reached a conclusion. Payments made prior to that period do not appear on the indictment. Their claim is that under a secret agreement and in exchange for payments, Negreira favored Barcelona in both decisions taken by referees in games played by the club as well as in competition results. We havent found any third party to which money had been destined to go, the report states, referring to Barcelona potentially paying referees or altering the result of a game. Spanish prosecutors have filed corruption charges against Barcelona and former club presidents Sandro Rosell and Josep Maria Bartomeu for allegedly making payments to a company owned by Jose. That came on Friday, March 10. The Ascent of Man is a true TV landmark that spellbound audiences in the 1970s. On Thursday, Madrid sources shared with The Athletic their travel plans, which featured no such plans for a meal, but they did say an invitation would be accepted if Barcelona offered one. Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira, who held the role between 1994 and 2018, is also facing charges of corruption in a case brought by the Spanish public prosecutor's office, as is Josep Maria . Barcelona in 1.2 billion debt which includes transfer related fees They are all proved with bank transfers, they were part of the clubs accountability and all the correspondent taxes were correctly paid., Barcelona, the leaked Negreira documents and what we've learned about the case. Thats a categorical no.. ', LIVE Transfer Talk: Man Utd want Bayindir to compete with Onana, Saudi Arabia transfer tracker: Done deals, players linked and failed talks. I am fully convinced and can categorically state this. You have reached ESPN's Australian edition. Ex-club executives Oscar Grau and Albert Soler are also listed among the defendants, along with former referee Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira, whose company received almost 7 million ($7.5 million) from Barca from 2001 to 2018. Myroslava Gongadze. Prosecutors say Barcelona paid as much as 7.3 million euros ($7.7 million) from 2001-18 to the company of committee vice president Jos Mara Enrquez 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)." ADVERTISEMENT On Friday, a court heard Barcelona have been indicted for "corruption", "breach of trust" and "false business records". Join them. Barcelona executives heard of Madrids plans hours before kick-off in their away trip to Athletic Bilbao. disputed this week that the club had ever bought off officials. From the 20 La Liga referees from my generation, I have spoken with 18 of them. Prosecutors in Spain dropped corruption and fraud charges on Friday against football star Neymar and others accused in a trial over the Brazilian's 2013 move from Santos to Barcelona. Then, on Sunday, after a meeting at their Valdebebas sporting complex that lasted about an hour, Madrid announced their intention to participate in the case. Daniel Snyder destroyed a D.C. institution. Madrid believe Ronald Araujo should have been sent off for a hard tackle on Vinicius Junior at the start of the game. Adventure, a touch of luck and sheer desire, Afghanistan women's team in exile wants FIFA recognition, Man United can't keep the lid on Kobbie Mainoo for much longer, Man United's away kit answers the question: 'How many stripes is too many? The Catalan giants signed the Brazilian playmaker for 142m in January 2018 but still owe 25.84m in the short-term and 35.4m in the long-term. Bartomeu claimed he only dealt with Enriquez Negreiras son, Javier Enriquez. Laporta responded by saying he will not give Tebas "what he'd like by stepping down" and the charges come three days after Laporta insisted his club had "never bought referees". Stay on current site or go to US version. But there had been nothing from the club itself. Laporta has expressed his belief that this is a campaign orchestrated against Barcelona, and denied any wrongdoing. They claim to feel aggravated in sporting terms by this, the Barcelona president added. La Ligas delegate committee, formed by 14 clubs from the first and second tier, then released a statement expressing deep concern over the affair. Laporta went on to attack Real Madrid, claiming Barcelonas rivals had historically been favoured by referees because they were the club of the regime. The others which happen to be the five largest payments, ranging between 84,000 and 120,000 are labelled as recording and viewing of international games. 3. Prosecutors initially asked that, if found guilty, Neymar and his father serve a two-year prison sentence and pay a $9.7 million fine. Barca sources, who requested anonymity to protect their roles, shared the following assessment with The Athletic: that such a move would not make much of a difference to relations and there was no plan to comment. "Additionally, the relationship with this external provider expanded to technical reports related to professional refereeing, with a view to complementing the information required by the first-team and academy coaching staff, a usual practice in professional football clubs.". Neymar cleared! Spanish court drops corruption and fraud charges All this advice is accredited with invoices. The investigation conducted by the Spanish prosecutors office also included charges against the club for malfeasance and false documentation. When they did, it came via Emilio Butragueno, a legendary former player who is now director of institutional relations at the club. UEFA told The Athletic it has no comment to make. He usually appears on Gol TV and is a main collaborator in the YouTube show The Four Amigos Podcast. DIS, a Brazilian investment firm that owned a 40 percent stake in Neymars rights while he was at Santos, claims it did not receive its rightful cut of the players transfer to Barcelona because it claims the true value of the deal was concealed. Lawyers for the defendants, which as well as Neymar and his family include the former Barcelona presidents Sandro Rosell and Josep Maria Bartomeu, are now expected to seek damages and costs from DIS, which will continue pursuing its own damages claim. Its been five years since those payments stopped and these kinds of breaches are time-barred in our rulebook three years after taking place.. Just as the two-week trial was coming to a close, however, a prosecutor told the judge hearing the case in Barcelona that in view of the information presented to the court there was not enough evidence that a crime had been committed. Barcelona (AFP) - Brazilian football superstar Neymar was cleared of corruption charges on Tuesday related to his transfer to Barcelona from Santos in 2013. He added: I am not getting emotional as a sign of weakness. Spanish Prosecutor Drops Fraud Charges Against Neymar, Others Barcelona face corruption charges over ref scandal - ESPN BARCELONA: Prosecutors in Spain dropped corruption and fraud charges on Friday against football star Neymar and others accused in a trial over the Brazilian's 2013 move from Santos to . FRANCK FIFE/AFP/Getty Images. . It emerged last month that Barca paid Negreira and a company he owns a reported total of 8.4m euros (7.4m) between 2001 and 2018. . In terms of other sporting punishments, La Liga has already said it cannot investigate because the case relates to events that took place more than three years ago. The cases denouement this week came after the prosecutor told the court, according to Spanish news media reports, that although no violations of Spains penal code had been proved, there were indications that other rules, including Brazils civil code and FIFA regulations, may have been breached. I want to mention the report from the tax authorities to the prosecutors where they clearly state they could not prove the payments made to Negreira could have an influence into the closing of referees, or to the result of any football game. Sources close to A22 Sports, the company behind plans to form the European Super League supported by Madrid and Barca, told The Athletic they didnt see any potential increase in tension between the clubs affecting their plans. Spain drops criminal charges against Neymar over Barcelona transfer Neither Barcelona nor Enriquez Negreira could provide documents evidencing the former referees work for the club. This jars with what Bartomeu later told prosecutors. What can he know about referees if he has never refereed once in his life?, Iturralde Gonzalez told Spanish radio station Cadena SER. A more interesting development had come four days earlier, in a sign that perhaps Madrid were keeping quiet for a reason. All the parties involved Barca, Enriquez Negreira, Bartomeu, Rosell, Grau and Soler have previously been approached for comment by The Athletic. Barcelona have huge debts and are at risk of going bankrupt Credit: Getty Images - Getty. He has covered the EURO 2020 and Qatar 2022. But on Friday, after a two-week trial in Barcelona, prosecutor Luis Garcia Canton told a judge that there is not the slightest hint of crime and asked for acquittal of all defendants. Neymar and the other defendants denied wrongdoing, and he testified that he did not take part in the negotiations over his transfer to Barcelona and signed the agreement upon his fathers recommendation. They explain in the video that Barcelona decorated Franco with three medals and recall that he was made an honorary club member in 1965. In the medium term, to control Barca and take over, he said. LIVE Transfer Talk: Man Utd want Bayindir to compete with Onana, Mbappe loves it as NBA stars react to Al Hilal's record bid for PSG star, Bonmati has put Spain row aside to star for La Roja at Women's World Cup, Afghanistan women's team in exile wants FIFA recognition, Man United can't keep the lid on Kobbie Mainoo for much longer. Subscribe to The Athletic for in-depth coverage of your favorite players, teams, leagues and clubs. But there have still been a few further ripples of upset. During 70 years, the people in charge to make decisions in that regard were from Real Madrid. Neymar, Brazil's star forward, no longer faces the possibility of being sent to prison after Spanish prosecutors on Friday dropped their charges of fraud and corruption against the soccer player . with ethics and disciplinary inspectors appointed to look into the matter, He advised Barcelona to ask the Spanish FA to allow clubs to register more than 25 first-team players per season, He suggested they employ an interlocutor to take care of, and improve, their relationship with the FA, He urged Barcelona to send a club representative to every farewell event for referees who were retiring, in order to improve their public image, He offered counsel on which bookings and red cards could be appealed and potentially overturned, depending on the decision of the referee in each case, He told Barcelona to formally notify the FA or the refereeing committee of every visit the club would pay to their facilities. Neymar, Barcelona to stand trial for corruption, fraud - ESPN Neymar has been cleared of all fraud and corruption charges. These lawsuits, brought by. Barcelona need to trim 190 million ($222 million) from their wage bill or they run the risk of going bankrupt as early as the start of next year, according to reports in Spain. Barcelona face corruption charges over payments - BBC A statement from prosecutors read: "Through presidents Rosell and Bartomeu, Barcelona reached and maintained a strictly confidential verbal agreement with the defendant Negreira, so that, in his capacity as vice president of the refereeing committee and in exchange for money, he would carry out actions aimed at favouring Barcelona in the decision making of the referees in the matches played by the club, and thus in the results of the competitions.". These lawsuits, brought by. Judge agrees to start investigation in Barca-ref scandal - ESPN By Joseph Wilson Published 1:22 PM PDT, March 10, 2023 BARCELONA, Spain (AP) Prosecutors have formally accused Barcelona of corruption because of its payments of millions of euros over several years to a company that belonged to the vice president of Spain's football refereeing committee. Laporta, who could be called as a witness because he was also president from 2003 to 2010, disputed this week that the club had ever bought off officials. Reports in the Catalan media this week revealed that Laporta will send a letter to all socios that will address the situation, will reiterate that Barcelona are innocent of what theyve been accused of and plans to explain the steps the club will take to defend themselves. As for the charges raised in Spain, the whole legal process is expected to take years to complete, given the magnitude of the investigation and the amount of documentation collected from all sides. FC Barcelona chasing former Arsenal starlet. Prosecutors also confirmed that from 2016-19, Enriquez Negreira withdrew 550,000 from his companies in cash. On Monday, February 21, La Liga held an internal meeting with all the competitions teams to update them on new salary limits for each club. "Barca have never bought referees nor influence," he said Tuesday. Local news, weather, sports, events, restaurants and more, Spain drops criminal charges against Neymar over Barcelona transfer, On a somber day in New Zealand, the Football Ferns offer a burst of light, Australias World Cup moment arrives, but fate intervenes for its brightest star. On the Saturday lunchtime, shortly before kick-off in their home match against Espanyol, Real Madrid announced club president Florentino Perez would hold an emergency board meeting to discuss their next move. Prosecutors accuse Barcelona of corruption in ref payments Cash-strapped Barcelona 'on verge of bankruptcy' after racking up Judge dismisses bribery charge against ComEd in case tied to Madigan Enriquez Negreira is also facing charges, as are former Barcelona presidents Sandro Rosell and Josep Maria Bartomeu. The only thing we want now is to have some light cast over this dark case. Josep Lago/Agence France-Presse Getty Images, a Brazilian sports investment company that jointly brought the case.