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Barcelona will be asked for an explanation after allegations they paid €1.4million to a company part-owned by former LaLiga referee Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira.
The Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) said on Thursday it had begun a “request for information” from Barcelona and the Technical Committee of Referees (CTA), of which Negreira was a long-time vice-president.
LaLiga giants Barca have been alleged to have paid the seven-figure sum between 2016 and 2018 to Negreira’s company DASNIL 95 SL, with the claims first revealed by broadcaster SER Catalunya.
Newspaper El Pais alleged that in return for payments, Barcelona received a written report and DVD assessment of referees prior to games.
Barcelona have strenuously denied wrongdoing, stating they previously hired “an external consultant” who provided video of youth players from other teams, together with “technical reports related to professional refereeing”, which it said was “a common practice among professional football clubs”.
The club, whose first team sit eight points clear at the top of LaLiga, said they would take legal action “against those who are trying to tarnish the club’s image with possible insinuations against its good reputation”.
The RFEF wants to be sure there has been no malpractice, and in a statement said its integrity department “initiated a request for information reserved for both those responsible for the CTA and FC Barcelona”.
It added: “As soon as sufficient information is available, the RFEF will adopt the corresponding measures within the framework of legality that must prevail in all these situations.”
The process of gathering information began on Wednesday, and the federation statement added: “The RFEF agreed yesterday to appear in the possible judicial procedures that are followed on this matter.”
It also pointed out Negreira left the CTA leadership after an overhaul that followed the May 2018 RFEF presidential elections.
Negreira held his role with the RFEF from 1994 to 2018.
The RFEF said its rules dictated that all involved with refereeing and disciplinary matters are “obliged to detail any income, regardless of what is received by the RFEF, that could be related to football for the purpose of being able to evaluate and verify the effective and real absence of conflicts of interest”.
Amid the controversy, Barcelona host Manchester United on Thursday evening in the first leg of their Europa League play-off.
