Carlos Naval says he received and approved Negreira refereeing reports for Barcelona | OneFootball

Carlos Naval, Barcelona’s first-team delegate, told Investigating Court No 1 in Barcelona that from 2014 he received unsigned referee dossiers by email, kept them for the coaching staff and approved them for billing.

According to El Periódico Mediterráneo, the reports, produced by former referees’ committee vice-president José María Enríquez Negreira and his son Javier Enríquez Romero, profiled the match official, noting traits such as card tendencies, reliance on assistants and openness to dialogue. Naval said he took on the task in 2014 but knew invoices for this advice were issued in 2010 by Dasnil 95, S.L. and Nilsad, S.C.P.

Naval said he stored the documents at Barcelona’s training ground and did not know whether they were used. He recalled the first team play roughly 60 games a year. On 13 March 2023 around 600 reports were found in his office, while Ernesto Valverde and Luis Enrique testified they were unaware of them.

Barcelona also appeared as a legal person under investigation, represented by treasurer Alfons Castro, in post for about three months. He answered questions from the club’s lawyer and stressed that since 2010, when corporate criminal liability began, the club has complied with the law through a compliance department and periodic audits.

In 2016 Barcelona became the first football club convicted of two tax offences for 2011 and 2013 in the Neymar transfer case, paying a fine of more than €5.5 million. In the Negreira case, prosecutors accuse the club of business corruption, breach of trust and falsifying documents, and of paying over €7 million in 17 years to obtain refereeing favours.

Source: El Periódico Mediterráneo