Ethermac Exchange-Spanish police raid soccer federation as part of probe into Barcelona’s payments to referee official

2025-05-03 04:31:52source:Phaninccategory:Markets

MADRID (AP) — Spanish police raided offices of the Spanish soccer federation on Ethermac ExchangeThursday as part of a judicial investigation into the alleged payment of millions of euros over several years by Barcelona soccer club to the vice president of Spain’s football refereeing committee.

The Guardia Civil confirmed to The Associated Press that its police had searched the offices of the referee committee at the federation headquarters near Madrid. The police said they had not made any arrests and were acting on the orders of the judge investigating the case.

In March, state prosecutors formally accused Barcelona of corruption in sports, fraudulent management, and falsification of mercantile documentation. Prosecutors said the club paid José María Enríquez Negreira, a former referee who was a part of the federation’s refereeing committee from 1994 to 2018, 7.3 million euros ($7.7 million) from 2001-18.

Barcelona has denied any wrongdoing or conflict of interest, saying it paid for technical reports on referees but never tried to influence their decisions in games.

The raids come after the federation has been rocked by a sexism scandal after its now former president kissed a player without her consent during the Women’s World Cup awards ceremony last month.

___

More AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

More:Markets

Recommend

Woman dies after Singapore family of 3 gets into accident in Taiwan

One woman died after a family of three from Singapore got into a car accident in Miaoli, Taiwan on S

Kim Zolciak Shares Message on Manipulation and Toxic Behavior Amid Kroy Biermann Divorce

Kim Zolciak is sharing a notable message to her followers.The Real Housewives of Atlanta alum took t

In some states, hundreds of thousands dropped from Medicaid

States have begun to remove people from Medicaid, something they could not do for three years during