Tebas Negreira Real Madrid Remarks Renew Super League and Refereeing Row

Javier Tebas, the president of LaLiga, has launched a fresh attack on Real Madrid over the stance of the club on the Negreira case, and the remarks added a new chapter to a long running dispute between the league and the club. Tebas spoke at the World in Progress forum in Barcelona on Monday 2 November, and the statements were reported by Catalan newspaper Sport. The LaLiga president argued that Real Madrid were dragging the matter out and using the case to escalate attacks on Barcelona, with tension between the two sides rising in recent times.

The World in Progress forum remarks centred on the relationship between Barcelona and Real Madrid and on the way that the Negreira case has been discussed in public. Tebas said that the position of Real Madrid cannot be accepted, and the LaLiga president linked the change in the stance of Real Madrid to the decision by Barcelona to withdraw from the European Super League project. The remarks drew a sharp line between the period when both clubs supported the proposed competition and the period that followed the withdrawal by Barcelona.

Tebas said that the prolonging of the Negreira case was like chewing gum, and the LaLiga president described the approach as unacceptable. The remark formed the core of the report on the forum appearance, and the language showed the strength of feeling on the side of the league president. Tebas also argued that the repeated questioning of refereeing decisions risked damage to the reputation of Spanish football, and the LaLiga president rejected suggestions that officials deliberately act against particular clubs.

What Tebas Negreira Real Madrid remarks mean for LaLiga

Tebas argued that LaLiga had acted before Real Madrid in the Negreira case. The LaLiga president said that LaLiga went to the public prosecutor before Real Madrid, and Tebas pointed to the role of the president of Real Madrid as a member of the board of directors for six months after the case emerged. Tebas also pointed to a general assembly where the president of Real Madrid spoke about friendship between Barcelona and Real Madrid while both clubs were part of the European Super League project.

The LaLiga president said that everything changed after Barcelona withdrew from the project. Tebas stated that, since the withdrawal, the situation had become as if Negreira was in the dressing rooms of all the referees who officiate matches for Real Madrid. The remark captured the view of Tebas that the case had been turned into an ongoing accusation against the current refereeing system, and Tebas rejected that reading of the case.

Tebas also stated that the ongoing attack on Barcelona was unacceptable. The LaLiga president said that the time will come when the club bears responsibilities, but the case cannot now be claimed to be ongoing in the same way. The distinction mattered to the argument made by Tebas, because the LaLiga president has previously stressed that the payments were serious and must be investigated to the end, while refusing to claim that Negreira still influences the decisions of referees today.

The background to the Negreira case

The case goes back to payments made by Barcelona to companies linked to Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira, the former vice president of the Technical Committee of Referees, between 2001 and 2018. According to published investigations, the payments amounted to around 7.5 million euros. Spanish authorities have investigated whether the payments were connected to attempts to influence refereeing decisions, and the judicial process continues, with the courts still determining the nature of the payments and the purpose of the payments.

Barcelona have maintained that the payments were for technical reports and consultations on refereeing and sports scouting, and the club deny any aim of influencing the decisions of referees or gaining a sporting advantage. LaLiga announced a move to join the case as a prosecuting party in March 2023. Real Madrid followed on 12 March 2023 by joining the proceedings as an injured party, and the court accepted the participation of Real Madrid in May 2023.

Tebas believes that Real Madrid were not the ones who set the file in motion. The league and the judicial authorities got there first, in the view of Tebas, and the LaLiga president rejects any attempt to turn the case into an ongoing accusation against the current refereeing system. The remarks at the forum in Barcelona added to growing tensions between Tebas and Real Madrid, whose relationship has deteriorated over disputes involving refereeing, television coverage and the European Super League.

The dispute comes at a sensitive time in the season. Barcelona lead LaLiga with 30 points from 11 matches, followed by Atletico Madrid with 28 points and Real Madrid with 27 points. Barcelona travel to face Atletico Madrid at the Metropolitano on Sunday 8 November in Matchday 12, and Real Madrid visit Valencia at Mestalla on Saturday 7 November. The remarks by Tebas will not change the table, but the dispute adds context to a week when the top three clubs all face important matches.

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