Pérez turns pressure into a club vote
Real Madrid president Florentino Pérez said he will not resign and plans to call elections at the club after a tense press conference in Madrid. According to The Guardian, Pérez announced the move without giving a date for the vote or explaining the formal process needed to begin it.
Pérez used the appearance to reject claims that he is stepping away because of health or age, while also accusing parts of the media and unnamed opponents of trying to force him out. The message was clear enough: he wants any challenge to come through Real Madrid’s members, not through speculation or pressure from outside the club.
Barcelona puts Pérez’s words under legal review
Barcelona responded after Pérez again linked the club to the Negreira case and questioned the legitimacy of past results. According to AS, the club’s legal department is studying his accusations and deciding whether to take further action.
Barcelona’s statement, translated into English, said: “With regard to the press conference called by Real Madrid president Florentino Pérez, we inform you that our legal department is carefully studying his accusations and statements. At this time, those statements are being analyzed and the next steps are being evaluated. When considered appropriate, the club will properly communicate any positions and decisions that are taken.”
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The Negreira case remains unresolved
The Negreira case centers on payments Barcelona made to companies linked to José María Enríquez Negreira, a former vice president of Spain’s refereeing committee. According to AP, Spanish prosecutors said Barcelona paid about €7.3 million between 2001 and 2018, while the club has denied wrongdoing and argued the payments were for technical reports on referees.
The case has not produced a final ruling against Barcelona. The club has maintained that it did not buy refereeing decisions, while critics argue that years of payments to a senior refereeing figure created a serious conflict of interest. That unresolved legal space is what makes Pérez’s latest comments especially sensitive.
Pérez says Madrid were denied league titles
Pérez sharpened the dispute by claiming Real Madrid had been harmed during the years covered by the investigation. According to Cadena SER, he said Madrid would send a report of more than 500 pages to UEFA and called the Negreira case the biggest scandal in football history.
His strongest line, translated into English, was: “I have won seven leagues. It could have been 14, but they stole them from me.” Barcelona’s legal review appears likely to focus on whether that type of language can be treated as sporting opinion, or whether it amounts to a damaging accusation against the club.
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A courtroom shadow over Spain’s biggest rivalry
The legal position is still developing. According to Catalan News, a Barcelona court removed the bribery charge from the case in 2024 after finding that Negreira was not a public official, although other parts of the investigation continued.
That distinction matters because Pérez is speaking about a case that remains politically explosive but legally unfinished. Barcelona has not been convicted of sporting corruption, and Real Madrid continues to frame the matter as central to the credibility of Spanish football. The latest clash leaves the rivalry moving beyond the pitch again, with both clubs now watching not only the courts, but each other’s next public statement.
Sources: The Guardian, AS, AP, Cadena SER, Catalan News
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