The former President of Barcelona, Joan Laporta, accused Real Madrid of influencing the Committee of Referees (CTA) for 72 years when answering questions about Negreira’s case. Barcelona are currently accused of sports corruption by the Spanish public prosecutor, after the discovery of 7-8m payments to companies linked to former CTA Vice President Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira over a period of 17 years. The group has defended its innocence.
Laporta will be re-elected on Sunday, with Victor Font his main rival. In Cadena Cope, Laporta responded to the allegations made by Xavi Hernandez regarding Lionel Messi’s non-return and the role of Alejandro Echevarria who was his brother-in-law at the club. Another topic that came up was Negreira’s case.
“We have advisers. The vice-president of the referee’s committee did not play an important role. The company did a lot, and it was run by his son. Those were different times. Don’t you think it’s a shame that for 72 years the committee was run by members of Real Madrid? All the members. Isn’t that a shame? It was the referee’s advice, not sports corruption. “But with that, never ask them about sports questions.
‘What Barca did was done very well’ – Laporta
Laporta was also asked about his slogan, ‘against everything and against everyone’. He also pointed to Real Madrid’s links to CTA.
“In all the problems and against everyone, the speech shows what has been happening to us at Barca for years. The club was dominated, defeated. It was under intervention; they were allowed to do certain things with the aim of reaching this point. The expensive contracts were not under any economic supervision.”
“We were against the smear campaign organized by Madrid regarding the Negreira case. What Barca did was legal, very well done. At that time, they paid a company – which we have already found – that produced referee reports to analyze the performance of referees. I am sure that Real Madrid did the same. Now Real Madrid has Megia Davila, the wife of the Referee Committee.”
“Doesn’t that seem shameful to you? It seems normal to you. Maybe they didn’t need to hire professional referees because they were already doing it, even better. Didn’t you see that in Madrid or something? Is what Barca did shameful? Wasn’t what Madrid did shameful?”
🚨 Joan García: “We know it’s a two-legged goal. Tomorrow we have to keep up with their pace, we have to learn from the Copa del Rey game, where the first leg put us a lot.” pic.twitter.com/djwRb3ORrb
– barcacentre (@barcacentre) March 9, 2026
‘I warned Florentino about leaving the Superleague’
Ever since Barcelona distanced themselves from the Superleague, which is a program promoted by the President of Real Madrid, Florentino Perez, there has been a clear desire to see Barcelona punished for Negreira’s crime. Laporta said Perez was warned about their exit from the tournament.
“When Real Madrid is in a bad situation, there is a decision that always seems to come to help them. I hope I can remove that idea from my head. The Real Madrid television broadcast does not reflect today’s reality. Florentino and I did not discuss this issue, only the Super League. We agreed on a project that could be useful for European football. We were fighting against state-owned clubs. I told him that I met with Florentino to do a peace project. It was not working, that we needed to reach an agreement with UEFA.
“Then I found out that some delegates from Real Madrid to UEFA said that what we agreed with Barca did not work for them. We continued with the Super League process to avoid penalties. It seems that Real Madrid also went down that way, and the story ended this way. During the Super League, the relationship with Florentino was different. Florentino helped to ensure that the Super League fund was connected to the Super League.”
“I was trying to save Barcelona, and the Superleague was supposed to bring 200 million euros. When we first realized that those 200 million euros were not coming, we decided to leave.”
Barcelona announced their exit from the Superleague at the beginning of this season, and this year it was announced that Real Madrid has reached an agreement to end the competition.
Sponsorship agreement between Barcelona and DR Congo
Barcelona have also been criticized for signing a sponsorship deal with the tourism board of the Democratic Republic of Congo, which brings in €11m a season. This is despite widespread reports of human rights abuses in the country. Laporta was asked about working with them.
“The Congo project comes under the peace agreement between Congo and Rwanda. We are paid 44 million euros; a very good agreement. We focus on compliance first. Through the Foundation, we look for safe places to help young people and prevent them from ending up in mines.”
