"That is sporting corruption" - La Liga chief on 'Negreira affair'

The ‘Negreira affair’ was one of the main topics of Javier Tebas' appearance on “The Wild Project”, the podcast of the well-known youtuber Jordi Wild. La Liga's president defended that he does not believe that the case will go very far and is confident in the integrity of the referees in Spanish football.

"Until today it has not been proven that referees were paid with that money and I believe that it will not be proven because that is not the way forward. The way is that FC Barcelona paid Negreira; they say because of the reports, I don't, but because he sold them that he could influence the promotion and relegation of referees and in that aspect he influenced‘, assured the head of the employers" association.

"That is sporting corruption, but it is not the same as match-fixing, which I don't think is going to be proven. I don't see them getting to any referee,‘ insisted Tebas, who pointed out where he believes the matter will end up: “It was wrong what was done and Barcelona will be sanctioned, but not at the level that is being reported. This is what we have today and I don't think there is anything else.

As usual, Tebas took the opportunity to lash out at the press who, in his opinion, are in favour of Real Madrid: "It's a procedure that I don't follow on a daily basis, but La Liga's lawyer sends me reports and draws my attention to it. Some people see a document and exaggerate it, but I think that's how it is".

"Nobody can say that the money paid to Negreira from his accounts went to pay such referees or a third party. That hasn't come out and I don't think it's going to come out," concluded Javier Tebas, who also spoke about the referees: "Everything can be improved, but to know what can be improved you have to know that things aren't going well. The collective lacks self-criticism".

"There are good referees, but I don't understand why this issue is so closed. I say to Medina Cantalejo that they should do the opposite of what they do, there is nothing wrong with recognising a mistake. The VAR also needs to be improved, those involved should be specialists, and I don't know if they should all be referees. The responsibility of the on-field referee, which was all of it, has disappeared. They don't call penalties any more and offside calls are few and far between. Red cards are also seen by the VAR... the refereeing responsibility is at the top and that's where we need to professionalise more"

 

September 19, 2024