Former Barcelona coach Gerard Lopez has claimed that he did make use of the infamous scouting reports on referees, which are at the centre of the biggest corruption case in the history of Spanish football. Barcelona stand accused of sporting corruption after payments of €7-8m over a spell of 17 years to companies linked to former Vice-President of the Referees Committee (CTA) Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira. The club have defended their innocence against all charges.
The crux of the case centres around the Spanish public prosecution feeling that the reports and consultancy provided by Negreira’s companies did not correspond to the fees paid by Barcelona, with the Catalan side unable to provide reports for the entire 17-year period, noting that documents are periodically destroyed every five years. On top of that, ex-managers Ernesto Valverde and Luis Enrique have testified in court that they did see or use the reports on referees performance, nor were they offered them.
🚨 Raphinha still didn’t train with the group today, and he’s now a serious doubt for Thursday. Frenkie de Jong on the other hand, has trained with the group. (@alexpintanel) pic.twitter.com/wiFaK8SiVv
— Barcacentre (@barcacentre) February 10, 2026
Gerard Lopez: ‘I received reports that were useful to me’
Now though, former Barca Atletic manager Gerard Lopez has claimed that he did use the reports, albeit admitting that it was an ‘historic mistake’ from the Blaugrana to get involved with Negreira.
“Negreira is a historic mistake for Barca, but to say that referees were bought… I was in the reserve team and I received referee reports from Negreira’s son, which were extremely useful to me,” he told Onda Cero, as recounted by Sport.
Barcelona Presidents and Javier Enriquez have testified
Former Barcelona presidents Joan Gaspart, Sandro Rosell, Josep Maria Bartomeu and incumbent Joan Laporta have all given testimony in court, denying that there was any sporting benefit to their dealings with Negreira. However his son, Javier Enriquez Romero, who worked under Negreira for his companies compiling the reports, has said that the payments ‘were not just for the reports’, albeit he did not clarify what they were for.
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