Javier Tebas is not accepting the charge that La Liga did nothing.
The La Liga president used his social media accounts on 4 October to reject a report by Spanish outlet El Debate claiming Spanish football authorities had allowed 44 months to pass without informing UEFA about the alleged corruption at Barcelona.
“What El Debate published is not correct. The dates and documents prove that,” Tebas wrote in his posts.
His rebuttal landed in the middle of the loudest week the Negreira file has seen in months. Real Madrid submitted a dossier reported at roughly 50,000 pages to UEFA on 1 October, calling for the investigation to proceed “with utmost urgency.” UEFA has confirmed receipt and told the club it intends to take the time it needs to assess the material.
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Tebas lays out his timeline
Tebas built his defence around a date. The Negreira case became public on 15 February 2023, and according to his posts, La Liga’s response was almost immediate.
“On 21 February, just six days later, I sent a letter to UEFA as president of La Liga concerning these facts,” he wrote.
He said the submission “included a legal report, documents relating to the payments and a press dossier containing coverage from national and international media.”
Tebas also drew a comparison with other Spanish football officials.
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“We approached UEFA six days after learning of the facts, while others needed years, and months before resigning from the RFEF board,” he wrote.
He closed with a complaint about the reporting itself.
“Before constructing another narrative about alleged inaction by La Liga, it would have been better to check the information with the league.”
What the Negreira case is
Spanish prosecutors allege Barcelona paid more than €7.3 million between 2001 and 2018 to companies controlled by Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira, who served as vice-president of the Spanish football federation’s referees committee (CTA) from 1993 to 2018. Barcelona has maintained throughout that the payments were for technical scouting reports on officials, not an attempt to influence them.
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In March 2023, prosecutors formally charged the club, former presidents Sandro Rosell and Josep Maria Bartomeu, Negreira and his son, Javier Enriquez Negreira. The accusations include sports corruption, fraudulent management and falsification of commercial documents. A Spanish court dismissed the direct bribery charges in May 2024, ruling that Negreira could not be classified as a public official under that statute.
Live witness testimony began in September 2025, with Rosell appearing in court and Bartomeu scheduled the following day. Negreira himself died in 2024.
Real Madrid, which is a party to the criminal complaint, has pressed for sanctions that go well beyond fines. Club president Florentino Perez has described the file as the most serious corruption case in football and said Barcelona “have stolen seven league titles from me.” No governing body has stripped Barcelona of any trophy.
UEFA investigators ruled in June 2023 that Barcelona would face no punishment at that stage. The new dossier from Real Madrid has put the Negreira file back on UEFA’s desk, and the court case in Spain continues.
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