Tebas: If the Negreira Case Hadn't Ended, Barcelona Would Have Been Relegated to the Second Division
Javier Tebas, the president of LaLiga, stated on Monday that if the "Negreira" case had not ended, Barcelona would have been relegated to the second division.
In statements reported by AS newspaper, Tebas said:
"Sports corruption falls under criminal jurisdiction, and there is no statute of limitations. This does not necessarily mean there was bribery of referees. We believe the objective was to influence the promotion and relegation of referees."
He added:
"In the sports field, when corruption is discovered, it is already classified as such. If we had the power to impose sanctions, we would certainly do so."
The LaLiga president continued:
"I have already said this at one of La Vanguardia’s forums: if this had been explicitly stated, Barcelona would have been relegated to the second division."
Case Background
The "Negreira" case emerged in February 2023, with Barcelona accused of committing acts of corruption by making payments totalling €7.3 million to Negreira between 2000 and 2018.
For its part, Barcelona claimed that it had hired Negreira as an external consultant to provide reports related to refereeing.
Case Developments
The judge in charge of the case ruled to dismiss the bribery charge. According to the Sport newspaper, the court dropped the bribery charge because it deemed that Negreira could not be considered a public official.