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Thursday, 1 October 2026dailybeirut.com
Football
Real Madrid confirmed UEFA has reopened the Negreira investigation, submitting documents on Barcelona's €8.4 million payments to a former refereeing official.
Thousands of pages of documentation have triggered a fresh disciplinary inquiry by European football’s governing body into the historic "Negreira case." Real Madrid C.F. announced that UEFA has formally acknowledged receipt of their complaint regarding payments made by FC Barcelona to José María Enríquez Negreira, the former vice president of the Technical Committee of Referees.
The Spanish capital club stated that the submission includes extensive evidence concerning events they deem to be of extraordinary seriousness. These allegations directly impact the integrity of competition and public confidence in the refereeing system. In an official release, Real Madrid emphasized that the investigation must proceed with the utmost urgency now that the governing body possesses the necessary documentation.
"The competent bodies [must] take the appropriate decisions in accordance with the severity of the verified facts," the club declared. They further vowed to continue active collaboration with UEFA, pledging to pursue all available actions to clarify events considered incompatible with principles of integrity, transparency, and fair play in European football.
The core of the complaint centers on €8.4 million transferred from Barcelona to Enríquez Negreira between 2001 and 2018. While domestic league regulations may render certain aspects time-barred, UEFA maintains that its jurisdiction over such matters remains open-ended. An official spokesperson for the governing body confirmed the receipt of documents related to the so-called Negreira case, validating the reopening of proceedings.
UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin had previously characterized the revelations as extremely serious, describing them as one of the gravest issues he has witnessed in football. Although he declined to comment directly due to the independence of the disciplinary committee and his own lack of detailed involvement, Ceferin noted that while LaLiga cannot impose competitive consequences due to time limits, civil prosecutor proceedings in Spain are ongoing. He explicitly stated that nothing is time-barred from UEFA’s perspective.
The next phase involves a thorough analysis of the provided evidence by UEFA, alongside the gathering of direct statements from all involved parties. This process will include official submissions from Barcelona. The disciplinary committee holds the regulatory authority to ban teams from European competitions if concrete evidence emerges of attempts to distort competitive integrity. Such a ruling would expose the Catalan club to potentially unprecedented sporting sanctions.
