MADRID (SPAIN) (ITALPRESS) – Real Madrid has sent a letter to UEFA’s disciplinary bodies regarding the “Negreira case”—the investigation into payments allegedly made by Barcelona to companies linked to the former vice-president of the Technical Committee of Referees between 2001 and 2018. “In this submission, the club has brought to UEFA’s attention the existence of significant evidence that conclusively reinforces the indications—known from the outset—regarding payments made over a prolonged period; these payments were opaque, lacked any verifiable justification, and were made by FC Barcelona to José María Enríquez Negreira—the former vice-president of the Spanish Football Federation’s Technical Committee of Referees—through various corporate entities. Real Madrid emphasizes that, from the perspective of sports disciplinary law, these facts constitute a systemic risk of the utmost gravity to the integrity of competitions, as they highlight the existence of a structure of undue influence over the refereeing body—something incompatible with the essential principles of competitive equality, neutrality, impartiality, and the unpredictability of sporting outcomes,” the Blancos wrote in a statement.
“In this context, Real Madrid has requested the immediate resumption of the disciplinary proceedings originally initiated by UEFA, deeming it unacceptable that this situation has dragged on, as its persistence seriously undermines the credibility of football, its institutions, and its officials. For this reason, the club calls for a firm, exemplary, and immediate response within the sporting sphere, independent of the progress of ongoing legal proceedings,” the statement reads. Real Madrid asks “that UEFA, in the exercise of its autonomous and independent powers, adopt the disciplinary and remedial measures necessary to ensure the integrity, transparency, and proper conduct of competitions,” while reaffirming “its commitment to upholding the fundamental values of sport” and to “promoting all necessary actions to ensure that acts of this nature do not go unpunished.”
– photo IPA Agency –
(ITALPRESS).
