Sevilla‘s directors will boycott Friday’s LaLiga match against Barcelona on Friday after the Catalan club were charged with suspected bribery.
The charges relate to payments worth more than €7 million ($7.3m) made to companies linked to the former vice president of the refereeing committee, José María Enríquez Negreira, according to court documents revealed on Thursday.
– Stream on ESPN+: LaLiga, Bundesliga, more (U.S.)
Former Barça presidents Josep María Bartomeu and Sandro Rosell also stand accused of the same charges, as do Negreira and his son, Javier Enríquez Romero.
“We express our complete outrage and condemnation of the actions carried out by the former officials of Barcelona who are indicted in the Negreira case, actions that are allegedly considered criminal by a court, as stated in the court order disseminated in the media,” Sevilla said in a statement.
“We reject the behavior of Barcelona during the periods in which these alleged crimes took place.
“For this reason, we have suspended the normal protocol corresponding to the LaLiga match scheduled for Friday between Barcelona and Sevilla and will have no representation in the Montjuic stadium’s VIP box.
“We want to express our deepest respect for the Barcelona members and season ticket holders, as well as for their current employees and officials who work daily at Barcelona and who are indirectly implicated in this matter.
“We respect the Spanish justice system, the presumption of innocence, and any decisions that may be made in any direction by the relevant courts and disciplinary bodies.
“We hope that, for the sake of the competition, all events in the Negreira case will be clarified in light of the judge’s recent considerations.”
Barça are also facing charges of corruption in business, false administration and the falsification of commercial documents after the payments came to light in February.
The Blaugrana paid Negreira’s companies more than €7m between 2001 and 2018 while he was the vice president of the refereeing committee. He had previously been a referee in the Spanish top flight.
Current Barça president Joan Laporta has said the payments were for “technical reports about referees” and denied the club has ever “bought referees or influence.”
However, prosecutors accused Rosell and Bartomeu of having an agreement with Negreira in which “he would carry out actions aimed at favouring Barca in the decision-making of the referees in the matches played by the club and thus in the results of the competitions.”
That led to a court opening an investigation in March, which eventually brought about the latest developments on Thursday.
Rosell was Barca president from 2010 to 2014 before Bartomeu replaced him. After six years at the helm of the Catalan club, Bartomeu resigned in 2020, with Laporta elected as his replacement in 2021.