Real Madrid submit ‘substantial’ dossier in Barca payments case

Real Madrid says it has sent UEFA “evidence of extraordinary gravity” regarding payments made by Barcelona to a former vice-president of Spain’s referees’ committee.

European football’s governing body says it will assess the documents linked to allegations that Barcelona paid Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira 8.4m euros (£7.2m) between 2001 and 2018 as part of its ongoing review of the case.

Barcelona have repeatedly denied any wrongdoing since the matter came to light in 2023, stressing that the money paid was for scouting and technical reports on officials provided by Negreira and his company, Dasnil 95.

However, Real says that their new dossier, reported to be more than 50,000 pages long, contains evidence “which directly affects the integrity of the competition and confidence in the refereeing system”.

UEFA described the dossier as “substantial” and said its ethics and disciplinary inspectors will “assess it as part of their ongoing review”.

It has previously been alleged that money paid to Negreira was used to bribe referees, which Barcelona have strenuously denied.

In a statement on Thursday, Real said that they wanted the investigation to progress “as quickly as possible until its complete conclusion” and urged officials to “adopt the corresponding decisions in accordance with the seriousness of the proven facts”.

In a statement on Thursday, Barcelona responded by saying that UEFA had “not opened any new proceedings” against them.

They added: “Proceedings were initiated in 2023, with the appointment of two investigators who have since carried out the action they deemed appropriate.

“The club has always complied with all their requests. These proceedings have not been reopened because they have never been closed.

“It is up to the investigators to determine what action, if any, they consider appropriate regarding this documentation. As of today, they have not made any new requests to Barcelona nor have they forwarded Real Madrid’s complaint to the club. Should they do so, the club will respond accordingly.

“In accordance with the applicable legislation, this file is subject to the outcome of the criminal proceedings taking place in Spain and will remain therein.”

In June 2023, UEFA’s investigators decided that Barcelona would not face any punishment, and the club has continued to appear in European competitions since then.

A Barcelona court has been looking at the case since that same year, and that investigation is still ongoing.

La Liga president Javier Tebas said in March 2023 that the competition body “could not take any action” because it happened too long ago. He said the case was “time-barred in sports law, but not in criminal law”.