Mourinho laments 'biggest corruption scandal in the history of world refereeing'

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FT Desk

Jose Mourinho has commented on the ongoing 'Negreira case', which has cast a cloud over Spanish football.

A court in Spain has ordered Barcelona to hand over all documentation regarding €7 million in payments made to Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira, a former vice-president of the Technical Committee of Referees.

Spanning from 2001 to 2018, the transaction history has drawn further scrutiny after investigators discovered a complete lack of a paper trail, indicating that any documentation that may have once existed has since been lost.

As the legal proceedings continue, UEFA confirmed recently that Barcelona's rivals Real Madrid have submitted fresh evidence for review.

"UEFA can confirm that it has received from Real Madrid CF a substantial amount of documents related to the ongoing investigation into FC Barcelona in the matter involving José María Enríquez Negreira, the former vice-president of the Technical Committee of Referees of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (the so-called 'Negreira matter')," a statement said.

"The UEFA Ethics and Disciplinary Inspectors have also received these latest documents which they will assess as part of their ongoing review."

The period in which Barcelona are being accused included Mourinho's first stint at Real Madrid between 2010 and 2013. He believes that Spanish football should look at the Calciopoli scandal in Italy and respond in a similar fashion.

"I will say only one thing: I congratulate the Italians," Mourinho said of the Negreira case. "Do you know why? Because it is the only country to have witnessed a scandal like Calciopoli in every sense of the word.

"As for Spain, with what happened, and everyone knows what happened, the situation is still unclear. Until now, nothing has happened. Nothing at all."

'Calciopoli' was a major Italian football scandal that erupted in 2006, involving allegations that club officials were trying to influence which referees were appointed to their matches.

The central figure was Luciano Moggi, Juventus’s general manager, whose recorded telephone conversations suggested attempts to influence the referee-selection process and put pressure on football authorities. The scandal exposed serious problems with the relationships between clubs and football officials.

Juventus received the harshest punishment: they were stripped of their 2004/05 and 2005/06 Serie A titles and relegated to Serie B, starting the following season with a points deduction. The 2005/06 title was awarded to Inter Milan, while AC Milan, Fiorentina and Lazio also faced sporting penalties.

Mourinho believes that the Negreira case allegations are even more serious.

He added: "If nothing happens, then this may be the biggest corruption scandal in the history of world refereeing."

Barcelona allege that the payments were made for consulting purposes, as Negreira provided them with scouting reports on referees.

A few days ago, the Portuguese told Corriere dello Sport: "I lived through the important Negreira period here at Real Madrid. Nobody knew about it, but we lived it. It happened. It happened. I left afterwards, and now everyone knows."