Barça Takes Legal Action Against Real Madrid President Pérez for Defamation

Spanish champions FC Barcelona have taken legal action against Real Madrid President Florentino Pérez. The Catalans filed the arbitration request required by Spanish law. Should no agreement be reached, Barcelona announced it would file a criminal complaint for defamation.

The background to this is statements made by Pérez regarding the Negreira case at a press conference on May 12 and in an interview the following day. The Negreira case involves payments made by FC Barcelona between 2001 and 2018 totaling approximately 8.4 million euros to companies owned by José María Enríquez Negreira, the then-vice president of the Spanish Referees’ Committee. These payments have been under judicial investigation since 2023. The investigation was extended again in early 2026 for another six months, until at least September 2026.

“The biggest corruption case in the history of soccer”

As Barcelona stated in its declaration, the Real Madrid president is accused of knowingly making false claims that have damaged the club’s reputation. With this motion, Barça aims to have Pérez retract the statements in question.

Pérez described the Negreira case as “the biggest corruption scandal in the history of soccer.” Barcelona had paid for Negreira’s services for two decades, Pérez had said, among other things. As a result, the archrival had regularly been favored by referees’ decisions and had thus influenced the competition. Real Madrid had consequently had numerous championships “stolen” from them.

Barcelona Rejects Allegations

Barcelona President Joan Laporta had rejected all allegations of possible “sports corruption” in April 2023 and spoke of a “public and media witch hunt.” Barça, like other clubs, had sought “professional advice” from a person with “experience in refereeing.” They had paid for refereeing advice and analysis.

To date, there is no evidence of match-fixing or direct bribery of referees. LaLiga President Javier Tebas also stated in an interview in early 2026 that “Barcelona did not bribe referees, as the reporting suggests.”

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