For the Spanish authorities, everything was decided: no disciplinary measures for Barcelona in relation to what has now gone down in history as the “Negreira case”, when between 2001 and 2018 the Catalan club allegedly paid 8.4 million euros to the then former vice-president of the Technical Committee of Referees. But in the face of the insistence of Real Madrid, the first major accuser of the blaugranas, and in the face of a “large amount of documents” obtained, UEFA has reopened the case and has officially decided to restart the investigation to take it to the end. Taking advantage of the lack of statute of limitations and article 4 of the Disciplinary Regulations.
UEFA's announcement and Ceferin's concern about the "Negreira case"
"UEFA confirms that it has received from Real Madrid a large amount of documents related to the ongoing investigation against Barcelona in the case involving José María Enríquez Negreira, former vice-president of the Technical Referees Committee of the Spanish Football Federation." These are the words that open the official statement of the organization led by president Aleksandar Ceferin on the "Negreira case", to which he has always paid maximum attention and has decided to entrust its Disciplinary Committee with the analysis of the documentation of the accusation against Barcelona.
From the moment the scandal broke, in 2023, after a complaint by Real Madrid to the Spanish federal authorities and sports justice, Ceferin himself did not hide his surprise, describing the case as one of the most serious and complex ever seen in the history of football. "I cannot comment," he said, entrusting the UEFA Disciplinary Committee with the analysis of the situation, which has continued to this day, when the reopening was decided: in fact, although for the Iberian sports justice the facts have expired within the statute of limitations, for UEFA there is no statute of limitations.
But what is Barcelona at risk now?
Media attention is already at its highest levels on what is happening in England with Manchester City, against whom the Premier League has brought 114 charges. Now eyes are also shifting to Spain, where another colossus of European football is back at the center of a complicated and risky disciplinary procedure. Real Madrid has expressly requested the revocation of all national titles won by Barcelona during that period: UEFA has no competence in this regard, but can apply Article 4 of its regulations.
The basic points are found in paragraphs 02 and 03 of Article 4, which specify that UEFA may exclude from its European competitions a club found guilty of “any activity intended to influence or manipulate the outcome of a match”. In this case, UEFA does not need to wait for any conclusion of the criminal proceedings, but the decision taken on the basis of the documents in its possession and the investigations carried out is sufficient. It is the rule of “comfortable satisfaction”, “sufficient satisfaction”, that is, the level of internal security of the Disciplinary Committee, where the percentage of guilt is higher than the hypothesis of innocence.
