Negreira case: Former Barcelona B boss explains value of referee dossiers

Former Barcelona B manager Gerard Lopez has told a court that he received referee reports prepared by former Spanish refereeing official Jose Maria Negreira and his son while he was in charge of the club’s reserve side.

Lopez gave evidence at Barcelona Court of First Instance No. 1 in the case concerning payments made by Barcelona to Negreira, who was previously vice-president of the Technical Committee of Referees.

According to judicial sources cited by Sport, Lopez said the reports were useful when preparing for matches during his time with Barcelona B between 2015 and 2018.

He explained that the video assistant referee system did not exist at the time, meaning teams needed information covering every aspect of the game, including refereeing.

Lopez said officials appointed to matches below Spain’s top division were not widely known. The reports provided to Barcelona enabled him and his coaching staff to understand their refereeing criteria, including which officials were more or less likely to issue cards and which were more or less willing to engage in dialogue with players.

He also told the court that every team would want access to such information before matches in order to prepare more effectively.

Tony Alonso, who served as Barcelona B’s delegate for 32 years, also gave evidence and acknowledged that the reports existed, according to the judicial sources.

Payments under investigation

The court is examining payments of about €8m made by different Barcelona boards to Negreira between 2001 and 2018 in return for reports relating to referees.

Negreira’s son, Javier Enriquez Romero, also prepared some of the documents and is himself accused in the case.

Barcelona has consistently maintained that the reports were intended to analyse the profiles of referees appointed to league and cup matches. The club says they allowed coaching staff to understand the officials’ tendencies and approach to managing games.

However, former Barcelona first-team managers Luis Enrique and Ernesto Valverde both denied during their evidence that they had received or seen the reports. They said they had not needed them.

Prosecutors suspect the payments were intended to influence the Technical Committee of Referees rather than pay for refereeing advice.

They therefore believe former Barcelona presidents Sandro Rosell and Josep Maria Bartomeu, along with former directors Oscar Grau and Albert Soler, may have committed offences including sports corruption, dishonest administration and falsifying a commercial document.

Judicial sources said the investigation is close to ending, with the court still waiting for a number of documents from Barcelona and the tax authorities. It is also awaiting reports on Negreira’s health. He has a significant neurocognitive disorder consistent with Alzheimer’s disease.

Once those materials have been received, the investigation may be formally closed. The court will then decide whether there are indications that offences were committed and whether the case should proceed to trial.