Mueez Ajao
– Barcelona say payments made to a company linked to the former vice-president of the refereeing committee were for technical reports on match officials, and do not represent a conflict of interest.
– Cadena Ser revealed documents on Wednesday linked to an ongoing investigation in Spain that showed Barca paid almost €1.4 million to DASNIL 95 SL between 2016 and 2018.
– The payments are alleged to be for “technical advice” and “to ensure that refereeing decisions were not taken against them and [officiating] remained neutral.”
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– DASNIL 95 SL is part-owned by Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira, who was on the refereeing committee until 2018 having previously officiated in LaLiga between 1977 and 1992.
– Barca confirmed they worked with external companies to gather information on refereeing, but denied there was anything untoward about the practice and said it was common place within football.
– They added they would be taking “legal action against those who are trying to tarnish the club’s image with possible insinuations against its good reputation.”
– “Barcelona are aware of the investigations into payments of external companies and wishes to make the following clear: In the past, [the club] hired the services of an external consultant that supplied the club’s technical secretaries with reports in video format of youth players from other clubs in Spain,” a statement said.
– “Additionally, the relationship with that supplier extended to technical reports related to professional refereeing in order to complement the information requested by the first and second team coaching staff. This a common practice among professional football clubs.
– “These kinds of outsourced services are now the duty of a professional who works for the Football Department. The documents obtained by Cadena Ser suggested Barca had been sourcing such information since 2003.
– “We always analyse the referees, of course, and have done for a long time,” Xavi Hernandez, who returned to the club as coach in 2021 after leaving as a player in 2015, said in a news conference on Wednesday.
– “For many years that has been the case, there is nothing new about that. [As for the reports], I try to focus on football but this club has these things.
– “The club released a statement and I am on the same page as the club. I wasn’t at the club at the time but, obviously, I defend the club’s interests.”
