Speaking at an event organized by the Marca newspaper, Tebas said, “Barcelona should be worried about the investigations opened by UEFA and FIFA because of all that happened. This incident is one of the most serious events in football history in terms of reputation.” said.
Explaining that their sleep has been broken since the allegations about Barcelona, which is publicly called the “Negreira incident”, Tebas said, “There are two things here. One is that referees can be bought and there is no evidence about it. The other is lobbying to influence referee decisions, which is a very serious thing. Paying money to impress referees is a very serious thing in sports and I think it’s a crime.” he said.
Although the LaLiga President refrains from commenting on the possible penalties to be given to Barcelona, he stated that FIFA cannot reduce the Catalan club’s score in the league, and that a penalty such as a ban from European cups will depend on UEFA, “The news is out and will continue to come out because the role of the media is playing. “This is why Barça cannot be comfortable. Barça management should comfort the supporters of Spanish football and their own team.” made its assessment.
“The Negreira incident”
In Spain, when the finance department was investigating DASNIL 95 SL, owned by former Deputy Referee Technical Board Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira, for alleged tax evasion, it was revealed that Barcelona paid this company a total of 7.3 million euros between 2001-2018.
Although the current administration in Barcelona denies all the allegations, a legal initiative has been initiated to file a lawsuit against the Barcelona Club, with the exception of Negreira, against former presidents Jose Maria Bartomeu and Sandro Rosell and two former managers on charges of “corruption in sports, irregularity in club management and issuing false commercial documents”.
The Spanish Football Federation decided to conduct an investigation into the allegations through the disciplinary bodies of FIFA and UEFA.