🚨💣 THE NEGREIRA CASE — FULL RECAP:
• Between 2001 and 2018, FC Barcelona paid approximately €7.3 million to José María Enríquez Negreira.
• Negriera was the Vice-President of Spain’s Technical Committee of Referees (CTA) — effectively one of the most senior figures inside the Spanish refereeing structure.
• He held that position from 1994 until 2018.
• Barcelona's payments therefore continued for approximately 17 years while Negreira occupied a senior position within the refereeing establishment.
• Payments were made under different Barcelona presidencies:
— Joan Gaspart
— Joan Laporta
— Sandro Rosell
— Josep Maria Bartomeu
• The payments suddenly stopped in 2018 — the same year Negreira left the Spain’s Technical Committee of Referees.
• Barcelona's official explanation is that it paid for "technical reports and scouting information about referees" that they handed over to coaches and coaching staffs to prepare for matches
• However, when investigators called up former Barca coaches such as Luis Enrique and Ernesto Valverde and asked them about these reports, they said they had NEVER seen them or used them.
• Barcelona therefore spent millions of euros on "reports" that they never used.
• When investigators asked Negreira himself what the millions were for, he said "They paid me to ensure refereeing neutrality."
• When investigators then asked Joan Laporta about Negreira saying "he was paid to ensure refereeing neutrality", Laporta said "We never asked him to do that."
• Investigators examined invoices issued to Barça by to Negreira.
• One invoice dated 30 November 2005 was for €60,000 and described the expenditure as "aloe vera gift pack"
• When prosecutor asked Joan Laporta whether invoices such as this were connected to the alleged referee reports/services, his reply was "I don't know."
• Another invoice, for around €139,000, referred to having selected/digitized footage from the South Africa 2010 World Cup.
• The problem? The 2010 World Cup wasn't even played yet.
• This pattern repeated for multiple internatonal tournaments, where invoices were made before these tournaments were ever played.
• La Liga say the reason they are not sanctioning Barcelona for this scandal, is because the statute of limitations is of 3 years only, and the case was revealed in 2023, which means the statute of limitations has passed.
• The case is now in criminal court.
• UEFA have now launched their own investigation, and they could BAN Barcelona from their competitions if they find them guilty.
Before Cristiano Ronaldo, Portugal NEVER played a final in their history.
With Cristiano Ronaldo - in 21 years, Portugal have played 4 finals, winning 3 trophies.
He has rewritten history, he is the history.
DON CRISTIANO RONALDO. 🐐🤍