Real Madrid will join a legal case against FC Barcelona that says the club paid millions of euros to a former referee to influence the outcome of its soccer matches.
(Bloomberg) — Real Madrid will join a legal case against FC Barcelona that says the club paid millions of euros to a former referee to influence the outcome of its soccer matches.
Spanish prosecutors formally accused Barcelona of corruption in business and sports last week, and named former club presidents Sandro Rosell and Josep Maria Bartomeu for corruption, document forgery and unfair administration relating to payments to Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira when he was vice president of the Spanish Technical Committee of Referees.
Real Madrid said in a statement on Sunday that “in defense of its legitimate rights, it will appear at the trial when the judge opens it up to the affected parties.”
Barcelona paid €7.3 million ($7.8 million) to companies linked to Negreira between 2001 and 2018, according to Spanish prosecutors. That period includes the first term of current president Joan Laporta.
“Barça is innocent of the accusations made against it and is the victim of a campaign, that now involves everyone, to harm its honor,” Laporta tweeted on Friday.
Espai Barça
The scandal comes as Barcelona looks to raise funding for the revamp of its Spotify Camp Nou stadium.
Barcelona, which is seeking as much as €1.5 billion for a project that includes a bigger urbanized overhaul near the stadium, is rethinking the deal’s structure because interest rates are rising.
“We are working to optimize the terms and flexibility of the final financing structure,” a Barcelona spokesman said by message on Sunday. “We continue to move forward on the financing of the project on the expected timeline,” and the club has time to close the deal until March 31, he added.
This increased flexibility includes being able to repay part of the debt if interest rates go down, a person familiar with the matter said, asking not to be identified discussing private information.
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