The payments existed, but the RFEF knew nothing. Villar revisits the Negreira case

Ángel María Villar has once again claimed that the Spanish Football Federation had no knowledge of Barcelona’s payments linked to José María Enríquez Negreira. The former RFEF president said Negreira would not have been allowed to remain within the refereeing structure had the federation known about his connection to the club.

Barcelona made the payments, Negreira held a senior position inside the Technical Committee of Referees, yet those two facts apparently never met inside the federation’s offices. Another leading official from that era says he only became aware of the arrangement after it had developed into a major legal case.

VILLAR SAYS THE FEDERATION KNEW NOTHING

Villar addressed the subject during the World Football Summit in Madrid. He served as RFEF president from 1988 until 2017, covering almost the entire period currently being examined by the courts.

The investigation concerns €7.3 million paid by Barcelona to Negreira and his son between 2001 and 2018. Negreira was the vice-president of the Technical Committee of Referees during that period.

“We had no knowledge of any of it. If we had known, we would have told him that he could not be there because he was linked to a club,” Villar said.

It is a remarkably convenient picture. Barcelona transferred the money, a senior refereeing official received it and the federation apparently found nothing that required even a basic inquiry. The oversight system worked perfectly, provided nobody expected it to notice anything.

NO VERDICT ON BARCELONA WITHOUT THE DOCUMENTS

Villar was more cautious when asked whether Barcelona should receive a sporting punishment. He said he does not possess the full documentation and does not know the precise status of the criminal proceedings, so he declined to reach a firm conclusion.

The former RFEF president also explained that disciplinary proceedings may be suspended when a criminal investigation concerning the same matter is under way. He therefore offered no judgment on Barcelona’s responsibility or the possibility of sanctions.

Villar presented no evidence that the federation knew about the payments. His comments nevertheless leave the central question untouched: how could Barcelona’s long-running financial relationship with the vice-president of Spain’s refereeing structure remain unknown to the people running Spanish football? For now, the institutional answer is as simple as it is familiar: nobody knew anything.