FC Barcelona against the rest of Spain. After the statements of Javier Tebas, the president of LaLiga, who explained Friday that FC Barcelona, suspected of having paid a refereeing official between 1994 and 2018, was "doing a lot of harm to Spanish football", it is the turn of the clubs to come out of the woodwork. On Monday, Sevilla FC and Espanyol, Barcelona's other club, expressed their deep concerns in two statements released on Monday.
"Although they are still in the investigation phase, the possible implications of what has been published for our competition, the clubs that compose it and the bodies affected would be so serious that exceptional action is needed to clarify what really happened. And, where appropriate, purge corresponding responsibilities at the national and/or international level. »
COMUNICADO OFICIAL#RCDE
— RCD Espanyol de Barcelona (@RCDEspanyol) February 20, 2023
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"The seriousness of the facts known to date, which call into question or cast doubt on the integrity of Spanish football competitions, also leads Sevilla FC to publicly ask the League and the RFEF (...) to promote and participate in all proceedings that may arise from this case once the investigation is completed," the Andalusian club wrote.
Joan Laporta weakened
The newspaper El Mundo published new revelations on Friday, claiming that the Catalan club had paid more than 6 million euros since 2001 to José Maria Enriquez Negreira, former number two in Spanish refereeing between 1994 and 2018, to advise the club on refereeing issues.
"I don't know if the results of the matches were directly affected. But for the image of LaLiga, I don't like it. LaLiga cannot remain passive in the face of the clues we have in the press," Tebas told a news conference in Barcelona. "The investigation must go to the end (...) because all this is doing a lot of harm to Spanish football," said the leader, adding that if the facts were "prescribed on the sporting level" they were "not in the penal".
Tebas said he had "never noticed anything fishy" in the matches he had seen: "It's very complicated to cheat in the refereeing world. In addition, today, with television... But he added that it was "not necessary for the bribery attempt to have worked for this to be reprehensible." On Monday, the president of the Spanish League also invited his Barça counterpart, Joan Laporta, to resign if he was unable to provide explanations.
- Football
- Sport
- FC Barcelona
- Corruption
- Referee
- Spain