Barcelona have no case to answer in referee payment scandal, insists club president

An exterior view of the Camp Nou, home stadium of Barcelona, prior to the UEFA Europa League knockout round play-off first leg match between Barcelona and Manchester United on February 16, 2023 in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.
(Image credit: Alex Caparros/Getty Images)

Barcelona president Joan Laporta has protested the club's innocence amid the referee payment scandal surrounding them.

Back in February, it emerged that between 2001 and 2018, Barca made 33 payments totalling €7.3 million to a company owned by the former vice-president of Spanish football's refereeing committee, Jose Mara Enriquez Negreira; Barca claim that they received referee scouting reports in return.

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Tom Hancock

Tom Hancock started freelancing for FourFourTwo in April 2019 and has also written for the Premier League and Opta Analyst, among others. He supports Wycombe Wanderers and has a soft spot for Wealdstone. A self-confessed statto, he has been known to watch football with a spreadsheet (or several) open...