Barca may have to be relegated because of giving money to the referee

According to the aforementioned decree, article 14 on very serious crimes in sports, the offense under paragraph c is "the act of fixing the outcome of a match or tournament with money, intimidation or simple agreement". .

The penalty for the aforesaid behavior is stated in article 21, paragraph c, as "relegation or relegation".

Barca is involved in a scandal dubbed the "Negreira case" by the Spanish media, which began spreading on February 15. The club transferred the money in installments to the DASNIL company owned by former referee Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira, with a total amount of up to $1.5 million between 2016 and 2018. During this period, Mr. Negreira served as deputy owner. President of the Council of Referees (CTA) of the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF). These expenditures are not recorded in the financial statements of the team.

The tax authorities found the funds suspicious, and the Barcelona prosecutor's office is investigating the company DASNIL. Barca is not being investigated, only suspected of committing a crime. Depending on the decision of the prosecutor's office, the case may be extended to investigate. Only then can the RFEF and the Spanish Court of Sport get involved.

Barca representatives and Mr. Negreira both said that the above money was a consulting fee, so that he could give advice to the team on how players should behave with referees. Barca stopped paying this fee in 2018, when Mr. Negreira was no longer working for the CTA.

Barca's announcement on February 15 also included a part that they regretted that this news was revealed at the time of the team's peak performance, and will "suance those who spread false rumors that degrade the reputation of the team".

The RFEF Regulations forbid decision-makers in this organization from accepting money, gifts or any other benefit from a third party that goes beyond local custom. Meanwhile, the CTA has powers such as classifying referees based on skill, transferring referees between tournaments and assigning referees to each match.

In the period 2016-2018, Barca went through a series of 76 matches without a penalty, in contrast they were awarded 16 penalties in La Liga. From the 2015-2016 to 2018-2019 season, Barca received 42 penalties in the tournament, and 5 penalties were awarded, a ratio of 8.4. This ratio of Real Madrid in the same period was only 1.8.

Also during this period, Barca twice won La Liga, won three King's Cups and a Spanish Super Cup. They are one of only three teams that have never been relegated, alongside Real Madrid and Athletic Bilbao.

VAR began to be applied to La Liga from the 2018-2019 season.

The history of Europe's top five leagues once recorded a team having to be relegated because of match-fixing by choosing the referee at will, at the Calciopoli scandal in 2006 in Italy. At that time, the 2004-2005 Serie A champions Juventus were stripped of the title and had to be relegated to Serie B, in addition, Milan, Fiorentina, Lazio and Reggina had points deducted in the 2006-2007 season.