La Liga Chief Tebas Says FC Barcelona President Joan Laporta Should Resign Amid Referee Payments Scandal

La Liga president Javier Tebas has said FC Barcelona counterpart Joan Laporta should resign from his role if he cannot explain “well” payments made to the Former Vice President of the Technical Committee of Referees (CTA).

A program from the SER radio station in Catalonia, Que t’hi jugues, revealed payments that Barca made totaling €1.4mn ($1.5 million) to Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira during the rule of former president Josep Bartomeu.

Negreira held his role at the CTA from 1994 to 2018. From 2016 to 2018, the Barcelona Prosecutor’s Office alleges, the Catalans paid the money to a company Negreira owned named DASNIL 95.

Barca denied any wrongdoing in a statement, saying that it hired the services “of an external technical consultant in the past, who supplied, in video format, technical reports referring to lower-category players in Spain for the Club’s technical secretariat.”

“Additionally, the relationship with the external provider itself was extended with technical reports related to professional arbitration in order to complement the information required by the coaching staff of the first team and the reserves, a common practice in professional football clubs,” it added.

Asked about the debacle on Monday as he revealed fresh salary limits for La Liga clubs, Tebas said that Laporta should step down if he “doesn’t explain well” the payments that were made to Negreira.

“He has not given a reasonable explanation for these payments,” Tebas continued, per MARCA.

“In the statement that Barcelona made, it seemed that all football clubs did this. One thing is that you have ex-referees and another is that you have ex-referees who are on the Technical Committee of Referees. It is an issue that I would like to see clarified.

“The time that this has happened, it is not three seasons, it is many seasons. Also with many different boards, that did not speak with each other, I don’t like anything [about it].”

Tebas’ remark about different Barca boards paying Negreira is inspired by other outlets such as El Mundo alleging that the payments took place from 2001 onwards and totaled close to €7mn ($7.5mn).

This period also takes in Laporta’s first reign from 2003 to 2010 before he was succeeded by Sandro Rosell from 2010 and 2014. Bartomeu then assumed control in 2014 and left in disgrace in 2020 which prompted a fresh election in 2021 that Laporta won lead the club for a second time.

That Tebas would back Laporta stepping down comes as no surprise considering their ongoing rift in many areas.

The La Liga chief naturally opposes the creation of a European Super League which Laporta still backs alongside his Real Madrid opposite Florentino Perez and Juventus, and is also at loggerheads with Laporta over salary caps and player registrations amid Barca’s financial difficulties.

Warning Barca that they must shave €200mn ($213mn) from their wage bill ahead of next season, Tebas has also revealed he will challenge the registration of Gavi’s new contract made possible by a court ruling in the January transfer window.