The RFEF statement on the Caso Negreira referee scandal

The secretary general of the RFEF, Andreu Camps, read a statement from the Spanish Football Federation during the press conference held at the Ciudad del Fútbol in Las Rozas regarding the 'Negreira case' together with the president of the Technical Arbitration Committee, Luis Medina Cantalejo.

Statement: The Federation set up an internal integrity department. On the same day as the elections for the RFEF presidency, Luis Rubiales dismissed all the members of the Referees Technical Committee, including Enriquez Negreira. Under the current president's management, the RFEF hired a company to warn of possible incidents in this regard. None of these alerts have been related to the issue we are analysing. It is true that Negreira sent two burofaxes urging that he had been dismissed in an irregular manner and asked to be reinstated. None of the burofaxes sent by his lawyer were answered. We have no further record of these matters. On 15 February we became aware of the information published. Given the content of the information, that same day, the president of the RFEF contacted Medina Cantalejo and myself so that we could inform the integrity department. That same afternoon, the department started the process of reserved information on this issue, which was addressed to the CTA and FC Barcelona. FC Barcelona replied the following day and the RFEF understands that, as FC Barcelona has more information, it will pass it on to the integrity department. RFEF requested further information on 20 February from the CTA following the reports concerning Enriquez Negreira's son. I have to confirm that the questionnaire published in the media is correct. The RFEF would like to state that it regrets that a member of the CTA has leaked the questionnaire to the media. I am not referring to the media, who did their job, but I must express my sadness because of the actions of a member of the CTA. 

A thorough analysis of social media and communications that might be relevant to the investigation was also requested. The members of the integrity department contacted the Barcelona Public Prosecutor's Office. However, this is not a criminal case. At the same time, the RFEF's team of lawyers assessed whether it was appropriate to file a complaint or a lawsuit in court. The courts considered that it would be totally counterproductive, since the admission of the complaint would stop all the proceedings of the Public Prosecutor's Office.

For the RFEF, the important thing is to reach the end of the investigation. The integrity director told me that the CTA had handed over all the information. It was clear that all referees, assistant referees and delegates, except one, had cooperated by providing information and data. One referee had not contributed to the internal communication despite being requested to do so several times. He did not reply to any deadline. We are considering how to proceed in this situation where a referee has not participated in all the information that has been requested. 

I would also like to inform you that last Friday UEFA's integrity department asked us for full information on this issue. From the RFEF we sent a full letter with the information we had available and putting ourselves at your disposal for everything necessary.