Barça: the Albatross around the neck of FC Barcelona
The smoke signals have been fired. Barcelona lead the La Liga table by thirteen points. With just five games left, they are overwhelming favorites to claim their first league title in four years. They haven't had to wait that long in almost twenty years.
However, the atmosphere around the Camp Nou is far from jubilant. There are dark clouds in all directions, a sense of chaos, a fragility in the air that should have been dense with joy.
This March, information about a $7.2 million payment from Barcelona to a company called Dasnil95 became public. Dasnil95 was led by José María Enríquez Negreira, longtime vice-president of the Spanish Committee of Referees.
According to official records, Barcelona used the services of Dasnil95 for technical reports on referees and young players - a common practice, according to many - but in quantities well above the market price. Even if he is paid over seventeen years, a figure that deserves a microscope.
This is now a case handled by the Barcelona Public Prosecutor's Office. A statement from prosecutors read: "Through presidents Rosell and Bartomeu, Barcelona have entered into and maintained a strictly confidential verbal agreement with the accused Negreira, so that in his capacity as vice-president of the arbitration committee and in exchange for money, he would carry out actions aimed at favoring Barcelona in the decision-making of the referees in the matches played by the club, and therefore in the results of the competitions."
These reports were discovered during a regular tax audit and have spread like wildfire. A title like "Barcelona found guilty of paying a company belonging to the vice-president of the referees' commission" cannot go unmentioned. Everyone had an opinion. The strongest came from La Liga president Javier Tebas.
"This is the worst moment in Spanish football."
Barcelona's counter-attack was just as thunderous. Club president Joan Laporta started with a few jabs, denying any wrongdoing, before saying he would take legal action against major publications that have targeted and defamed Barcelona's public image. More recently, at a press conference, he stated categorically that Dasnil95's reports were only technical and entirely within legal limits. He also took a carefully staged hit at La Liga and UEFA.
"Nothing is a coincidence. This campaign comes just when we are starting to do better financially, we are top of La Liga and we need to support the team more than ever. It also comes when we are involved in the search for a new way to improve (Super League) football….the La Liga chief has turned to UEFA to add his weight to this campaign against us."
This case goes far beyond a simple accused-accused plane. Sanctioning Barcelona will only be possible with concrete evidence presentable in court. Failure to do so will prevent the RFEF (Spanish Football Federation) and La Liga from taking action.
For Barcelona and Laporta, however, there is more at stake.
The smoke signals have been fired. Barcelona lead the La Liga table by thirteen points. With just five games left, they are overwhelming favorites to claim their first league title in four years. They haven't had to wait that long in almost twenty years.
However, the atmosphere around the Camp Nou is far from jubilant. There are dark clouds in all directions, a sense of chaos, a fragility in the air that should have been dense with joy.
This March, information about a $7.2 million payment from Barcelona to a company called Dasnil95 became public. Dasnil95 was led by José María Enríquez Negreira, longtime vice-president of the Spanish Committee of Referees.
According to official records, Barcelona used the services of Dasnil95 for technical reports on referees and young players - a common practice, according to many - but in quantities well above the market price. Even if he is paid over seventeen years, a figure that deserves a microscope.
This is now a case handled by the Barcelona Public Prosecutor's Office. A statement from prosecutors read: "Through presidents Rosell and Bartomeu, Barcelona have entered into and maintained a strictly confidential verbal agreement with the accused Negreira, so that in his capacity as vice-president of the arbitration committee and in exchange for money, he would carry out actions aimed at favoring Barcelona in the decision-making of the referees in the matches played by the club, and therefore in the results of the competitions."
These reports were discovered during a regular tax audit and have spread like wildfire. A title like "Barcelona found guilty of paying a company belonging to the vice-president of the referees' commission" cannot go unmentioned. Everyone had an opinion. The strongest came from La Liga president Javier Tebas.
"This is the worst moment in Spanish football."
Barcelona's counter-attack was just as thunderous. Club president Joan Laporta started with a few jabs, denying any wrongdoing, before saying he would take legal action against major publications that have targeted and defamed Barcelona's public image. More recently, at a press conference, he stated categorically that Dasnil95's reports were only technical and entirely within legal limits. He also took a carefully staged hit at La Liga and UEFA.
"Nothing is a coincidence. This campaign comes just when we are starting to do better financially, we are top of La Liga and we need to support the team more than ever. It also comes when we are involved in the search for a new way to improve (Super League) football….the La Liga chief has turned to UEFA to add his weight to this campaign against us."
This case goes far beyond a simple accused-accused plane. Sanctioning Barcelona will only be possible with concrete evidence presentable in court. Failure to do so will prevent the RFEF (Spanish Football Federation) and La Liga from taking action.
For Barcelona and Laporta, however, there is more at stake.
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