Barcelona summons Florentino Pérez to court over defamatory Negreira comments

Real Madrid president Florentino Pérez and FC Barcelona have been summoned to appear before a Madrid court on November 25 for a conciliation hearing over possible criminal defamation proceedings, according to sources close to the case cited by Agence France-Presse.

Barcelona launched the legal action on June 12, targeting comments Pérez made in May in which he accused the Catalan club of manoeuvring to obtain favourable treatment from referees. The club described the statements as knowingly false, defamatory and damaging to its image and reputation, and warned that a failed conciliation would be followed by a formal criminal complaint.

The Negreira case at the centre of the dispute

The row stems from the long-running Negreira affair, in which Spanish courts are investigating payments of up to €7 million made over almost two decades by Barcelona to companies linked to José María Enríquez Negreira, a former vice-president of Spain’s refereeing committee. Prosecutors are examining whether those payments were intended to secure a competitive advantage. Barcelona denies wrongdoing, insisting the money was paid for technical reports on referees. A court dismissed bribery charges against the club in 2024.

The case has already deepened the friction between Real Madrid and La Liga’s leadership, with the club publicly criticising refereeing standards on several occasions in recent seasons.

What Pérez said

At a press conference on May 12, Pérez described the affair as “the most serious case of corruption in football,” saying: “We could never have imagined Barcelona giving money to the head of the referees.” He went further, linking the scandal directly to Real Madrid’s own trophy record: “I’ve won seven leagues. I could have won twice as many. The others were stolen from me.”

Barcelona’s legal move is specifically aimed at forcing a retraction of those statements, which the club argues cross the line from opinion into defamation.

What happens next

The case remains at the conciliation stage and no criminal proceedings have been formally initiated. If the November 25 hearing fails to produce a retraction from Pérez, Barcelona has stated it will proceed with a criminal complaint, opening a new legal front in a rivalry already defined by years of bitter argument over the Negreira payments.