Offer to referees
In a recent development, authorities carried out a significant operation at the offices of the Referees’ Technical Committee, part of the Royal Spanish Football Federation. The aim was to gather documents connected to the ongoing Negreira case, a probe into alleged corruption involving FC Barcelona and former presidential leaders Josep Maria Bartomeu and Sandro Rosell. One focal point of the raid was the admission process of a Barcelona-based judge, Joaquin Aguirre, as investigators sought to determine whether José María Enriquez Negreira, the former vice president of the referees board, favored Barça when selecting referees for certain matches.
The operation was expanded into a new, separate room within the federation’s premises and was conducted under a veil of secrecy. Investigators consider it essential to examine the minutes of Technical Committee meetings attended by the accused former head of referees, who is reported to have earned roughly seven million euros over 18 years through a private company or through his son. At the outset of September, Judge Aguirre stated that, at the request of one of the defendants, he would obtain from the federation the surveys administered by the committee to arbitration professionals, along with their responses and communications within the group, including messages that may have circulated via WhatsApp with Enríquez Negreira and his son.
In a recent ruling, the judge suggested there may be evidence of system-wide corruption within the Technical Referee Board. The judge noted the possibility that Negreira could have influenced or trained his peers directly or through his son, and he inferred that Barça might have paid a former vice president of the committee to shape arbitration outcomes in a particular way. Such statements have raised questions about the integrity of referee selection and evaluation processes linked to the club’s interests.
The investigation also highlights the responsibilities of the Referees Technical Committee itself. It is described as a body charged with technically classifying referees, based on detailed assessments, and with proposing promotions or relegations to the federation’s president. It may also suggest international referee appointments and delegate observers who rate referee performance where appropriate. The tribunal has noted that these duties require consistent criteria and transparent procedures, ensuring that evaluative judgments are grounded in fair, objective measures rather than private influence.
The judge clarified that Enriquez Negreira did not act merely as a figurehead in this matter. He explained that the accused individual had previously acknowledged the control of tax audits conducted in Madrid, which take place biweekly, and that those audits focus on examining and scoring referees’ reports following each match, with judgments sometimes tied to the match results. The investigation suggests that the referee’s position could be used to influence outcomes and rankings, rather than simply serving a ceremonial role. This perspective adds another layer to the broader inquiry into how referees are assessed and how potential conflicts of interest are managed.