Barcelona said it will contemplate taking legal action against Real Madrid and the club’s president, Florentino Perez, after he accused LaLiga’s champions of corruption in a wide-ranging but bizarre press conference on Tuesday.
Perez called for new elections and announced his intention to run again during his remarks in the Spanish capital, though it was a strange affair in which the executive took shots at several people and organizations he argued were mounting a smear campaign against him. Perez also accused Barcelona of corruption relating to an ongoing investigation into Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira, the ex-vice president of Spain’s Technical Committee of Referees (CTA). Barcelona allegedly paid Negreira around $10 million from 2001 to 2018, though the club claims he was hired as an external consultant and Negreira has denied he was bribed.
“We have discovered that for the past three years we have been facing an unprecedented case of corruption, the biggest scandal in history: the Negreira case,” he said. “The referees from that era are still officiating in competitions such as LaLiga. We are going to compile a comprehensive dossier to present to UEFA so that they can nip this in the bud. The CTA president says it’s something we should forget. We’re putting together a 500-page dossier that we’ll send out as soon as the season ends.”
Perez also described the Negreira case as “the biggest scandal in history.”
“It is incomprehensible that we are still seeing referees from that era in a competition like LaLiga.” he added. “This has gone on for two decades of payments. They are the same referees, and we are preparing a significant dossier that we are going to submit immediately to UEFA so that it can address the issue at its root and resolve the Negreira case for the good of world football.”
Shortly after Perez’s press conference came to an end, Barcelona said it was considering legal action against the Real Madrid president.
“After the press conference conducted by Real Madrid’s president Florentino Perez, we inform that our legal department is carefully studying his words and accusations,” the club wrote in a statement. “In these moments, the club is analysing the situation and deciding which are the next steps to take. As soon as it’s considered opportune, we will inform further about our position and the decisions we make.”
Perez adds to dramatic week at Real Madrid
Perez’s accusations against Barcelona were just one part of a strange event, with the Real Madrid president using his time at the pulpit to criticize members of the media for what he argued was unfair coverage. He also took the time to respond to his critics as Los Blancos approach the end of their second consecutive trophyless season.
“I regret to inform you that I will not be resigning, but rather I have asked the board to initiate the electoral process for the board of directors elections, in which the current board will be running.” he said. “They are taking advantage of the fact that we haven’t had the best results, but it’s something we accept because in sports, you don’t always win. This has happened to us many times before, but they use these situations to attack me personally. They say, ‘Where’s Florentino?’ I don’t usually speak out.
“They say I’m sick and have terminal cancer. I want to take this opportunity to remind those that … my health is perfect … I don’t know why this rumor started. If they say I have cancer, I should go to a cancer center and get checked out. Do you think that if that were the case, it wouldn’t be all over the world? It’s not true. They made it up and decided I’m just tired. I work like an animal. I’m the first one up and the last one to go to bed.”
Perez’s press conference only adds to the tension that has loomed over Madrid in the final weeks of the season, headlined by an altercation between Aurelien Tchouameni and Federico Valverde that saw the latter hospitalized and both fined nearly $600,000 each. Kylian Mbappe has also had his critics after taking a vacation in Italy while he was sidelined with a minor issue, while Sunday’s 2-0 loss at Barcelona saw the team hit a new low on the pitch as their arch-rivals clinched a second straight LaLiga title with the result.
The 79-year-old Perez was first elected president in 2000 and held the position until 2006, but returned to the post in 2009. He has run unopposed in each of the club’s last four elections in 2013, 2017, 2021 and 2025. It is currently unclear if anyone will run against him for the upcoming election.
