Tebas rejects calls for Barcelona expulsion over Negreira case

La Liga president Javier Tebas has criticised Real Madrid’s handling of the Negreira case and rejected any suggestion that Barcelona and its current board should be excluded from the Spanish league before the courts have reached a verdict.

Tebas said the events surrounding the case were “extremely serious” and must be investigated fully, but argued that it was unacceptable to claim in 2026 that former refereeing official Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira continues to influence Spanish refereeing today.

“I still firmly believe the same about the Negreira case: what happened was extremely serious and must be investigated to the end,” Tebas wrote on his official X account.

“It is perfectly normal to investigate events that ended years ago. But it is completely unacceptable to construct a narrative in 2026 that Negreira is still influencing Spanish refereeing today. That is outrageous. Repeating it on Real Madrid TV does not make it true.”

Tebas said the ongoing legal process existed to determine whether payments had affected the refereeing system, particularly the promotion and relegation of officials, and whether the conduct amounted to sporting corruption with criminal consequences.

“That is precisely why legal proceedings have existed for years: to establish whether the payments influenced the refereeing system, especially referees’ promotions and relegations, and to determine whether these actions constitute sporting corruption and carry criminal consequences,” he said.

“Let the judges conduct their investigations, collect all the evidence and follow the case through to the end.”

The La Liga president then questioned whether some people wanted him and the league to punish Barcelona before the courts had ruled.

“But in the meantime, what do some people want? Do they want us to exclude Barcelona and its current board from the league? Do they want the league to replace the courts, issue its own judgment and impose a sanction before a judicial ruling?” he wrote.

Tebas also said that the limitation period for disciplinary action under Spanish sports law had expired, adding that this had been explained repeatedly.

He maintained that it was possible to condemn the conduct under investigation without accepting claims that Negreira still affected Spanish refereeing years after the events ended.

“You can strongly criticise what happened and I have done so from the beginning while at the same time refusing to accept the false claim that Negreira continues to influence Spanish refereeing after so many years have passed since those events,” Tebas said.

“This is not a search for the truth, but an attempt to keep a particular narrative alive.”

He concluded by appealing to Real Madrid TV and other journalists, saying: “The facts are serious enough without needing to invent more, which is what Real Madrid TV is doing.”

Tebas published the message on 6 October 2026.