La Liga chief rules out major punishment for Barcelona over Negreira scandal | OneFootball

La Liga president Javier Tebas has afforded Barcelona fans the chance to breathe a sigh of relief over the ongoing 'Negreira case', having clarified the potential sanctions that could be applied.

Barcelona were charged with sporting corruption in 2023 after it came to light that payments had allegedly been routinely made over a number of years to a company linked to former vice-president of Spain's refereeing committee, Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira.

In exchange for those payments totalling around €7m, Barcelona are alleged to have received reports and videos regarding referees.

The investigation to gather evidence is ongoing and no resolution has been reached, although La Liga wants the case to be heard in a courtroom.

But while Tebas is seeking legal retribution, he has explained that would come in the form of financial penalties, rather than sporting. It means that even if found guilty of wrongdoing, Barcelona couldn’t be forcibly relegated from La Liga as punishment.

"I do not make the sporting laws; I have to comply with what is established," Tebas explained in an interview with The Objective. "In this case, the statute of limitations for crimes is three years, and we cannot invent a different statute of limitations. So, no, there would not be an administrative relegation for this reason.

"The scope of the sanction for the crime of sporting corruption has many nuances, and I am not going to go into too much detail because we would be doing a course in criminal law here. But, in summary, the sanctions can range from the dissolution of an entity or commercial company to financial fines."

Tebas also wanted to point out that there has been no evidence of Barcelona 'buying' individual referees, with the sporting corruption applying to the alleged dealings with Negreira's company.

"What needs to be clarified is that, in this investigation, the purchase of referees has not been proven” he said. "Data and evidence have been requested by all parties, but there is no evidence that a referee has been bought. What is clear is the payment to Negreira, and that is already sporting corruption. But when you read or hear certain things, it seems like they are exaggerated."