Real Madrid hand Uefa 50,000-page dossier to escalate Barcelona corruption case

Real Madrid have delivered what they describe as a dossier of “extraordinary gravity” to Uefa, reportedly spanning 50,000 pages, in a significant escalation of the long-running Negreira corruption investigation involving Barcelona. The documents were received by Uefa on 1 October and have been passed to the governing body’s ethics and disciplinary inspectors for assessment.

The case centres on €7.3m (£6.5m) in payments made by Barcelona to Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira, the former vice-president of the Spanish football federation’s technical committee of referees (CTA), across a 17-year period from 2001 to 2018. Barcelona have consistently maintained the money was paid for scouting and technical reports on match officials, but prosecutors have alleged the funds were used to improperly influence referees.

A Spanish court dismissed bribery charges against Barcelona in May 2024 on the grounds that Negreira could not legally be classified as a public official for the purposes of that offence. However, the investigation continues under the separate charge of sports corruption, and Uefa has been conducting its own parallel inquiry since 2023.

In a statement accompanying the submission, Real Madrid said the dossier contains “evidence of extraordinary gravity, which directly affect the integrity of the competition and confidence in the refereeing system.” The club called on Uefa to progress the investigation “as quickly as possible until its complete conclusion” and pledged to continue collaborating with European football’s governing body.

The move follows comments made by Real president Florentino Perez in May, when he said he was compiling evidence for Uefa and claimed Barcelona had “stolen seven league titles from me” — a charge Barcelona have not accepted.

Uefa confirmed receipt of the documents in a statement, saying its ethics and disciplinary inspectors “will assess [them] as part of the ongoing investigation.” The governing body has not indicated a timeline for any ruling.

The Negreira case has cast a long shadow over Spanish football for several years, and Real Madrid’s active participation as a complainant party signals the dispute is far from resolution. With Uefa now in possession of a substantial new body of material, the next phase of the investigation is likely to draw renewed scrutiny to one of European football’s most consequential integrity cases.