Florentino Perez wages war on Barcelona and La Liga over 'the biggest scandal in the history of football'

Martin Macdonald

• 15 Dec 2025 10:30 CST
• 3 min read

Nieuws

Real Madrid president Florentino Perez has again raised concerns about the lack of progress in the investigation into the infamous Negreira scandal that has enveloped Spanish football.

Barcelona have been ordered by a Spanish court to provide every and all documents relating to €7 million worth of payments made to one Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira - the former vice-president of the Technical Committee of Referees (CTA).

The payments to Negreira were made between 2001 and 2018.

The situation was then exacerbated as investigators found that there was no paper trail available for these payments. If there once was a paper trail, it has been lost.

The legal process is ongoing, but Perez is furious as he believes Real Madrid are fighting the case on their own.

In his Christmas address as Madrid president, Perez said:

"Christmas is a time that invites us to reflect. This club has built its history and its legend. We are the club with the highest income in the world according to Deloitte and the most valuable according to Forbes. This has allowed us to live one of our most successful periods in these 15 years, both in football and basketball.

"But Christmas is also a time to reflect. And Madrid's biggest concern is the refereeing situation. As you well know, the extremely serious situation that occurred with the 'Negreira case' for almost two decades deserves justice.

"It is completely incomprehensible that the institutions have left Madrid alone in this fight. How is it possible that the president of the referees asks us to forget it? How are we going to forget the biggest scandal in the history of football? How can the RFEF and La Liga behave like this? They have a duty to ensure integrity.

"The 'Negreira case' is the most serious case in football today. We know that more than 8 million euros have been paid for technical reports on referees. And on top of that, they were never received by the coaches.

"Who can believe that they paid for these reports that the coaches didn't even know existed? It highlights the need for a radical change."

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

Perez believes that the corruption goes further and even suggested a club in Spain has been relegated because of it.

"It is possible that some club has been relegated as a victim of the 'Negreira case'," The Madrid president suggested.

"Our football has been damaged and justice must be done. Do not forget that the investigating judge of the case described it as systemic corruption. And Barca acknowledged that these payments were made because they were convenient. Why? For what? Madrid will continue to insist, and you in the media play a fundamental role."

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