• The bubble of the Barcelona board of directors "The 'Negreira case' is a Madrid issue"

  • Guide not to miss How much did Negreira earn?

    What can happen to Barça?

  • Scandal Negreira demanded money from Barcelona "after so many years of favors rendered" and pointed to "Mr. Laporta"

May 13, 2018. Last day of the Portuguese league.

Sporting de Portugal and Benfica are tied at 78 points, and play for the second place that gives access to the Champions League.

A booty of 43 million euros.

At halftime Sporting cannot beat Marítimo (1-1), nor Benfica in Da Luz against Moreirense (0-0).

But as soon as the second half began, the Benfica player

Alex Grimaldo

received a ball from the left inside the area, launched a cross and

Alfa Semedo

from Moreir , a former Benfica youth squad, brazenly intercepted the ball with his hand.

Penalty, goal by

Jonas

, 1-0 and the Champions League.

46 days later, Benfica buys back Alfa Semedo from Moreirense for 2.5 million euros.

The Judicial Police has investigated the penalty, and now the Portuguese Prosecutor's Office believes that Benfica rigged the classification for those 2.5 million euros.

With the Italian League shaken by the

Prisma case

, which has meant the loss of 15 points to Juventus due to fictitious capital gains from their accounts;

the Premier for the 100 financial infractions of the City skipping the UEFA regulation;

and the Spanish one with payments from Barça for 17 years to the vice president of the referees, now it is another league, the Portuguese one, and another big one, Benfica, the one dotted with another investigation that would have adulterated not only that result, but the competition for years .

The penalty is just one more point in the macro-process opened against Benfica for five years, according to

CNN

, precisely because of the

financial dependence that many Portuguese clubs have on Benfica itself

, through the transfer or repurchase of its players.

Tax crimes and money laundering

"It is not admissible that people imagine such a thing, because all this is transparent. If he went to Benfica it is because the Benfica coaches wanted him", defended the president of Moreirense, Victor Magalhaes, in an interview with the

Portuguese

media

White Ball

.

However, Semedo in his return was only seen in 16 games, five as a starter;

and

he ended up ceding it to Espanyol in the winter market

, where he was still seen much less, before returning it to Benfica, who sent him to Nottingham Forest the following year.

The matter becomes even more suspicious if we take into account that the president of the club,

Luis Felipe Vieira

, who left office in July 2021 after 18 years, was arrested along with his son accused of tax crimes and money laundering for more than 100 million of euros.

And later he was accused of

bribing the already expelled judge Rui Rangel with football tickets, invitations to the presidential box and trips abroad

to watch games, in exchange for favors in court.

The consequences for the current leader of the Portuguese league, and who won their match in the round of 16 in Bruges 2-0 in the Champions League, are still unpredictable.

Just a year ago, the club was already threatened with administrative relegation for having

paid 1.9 million to former referee Bruno Paixao

through the Best of Business company in exchange for "a quality control service."

Previously, Benfica had hired Best of Business for the same amount in exchange for "fictitious consulting services".

Alfa Semedo with the Espanyol shirt during a match at Mestalla.LFP

In Spain, it is still to be resolved why the former vice president of the Technical Committee of Referees received 6.6 million euros from Barça for 17 years.

According to the concept of the invoices, for the "preparation and sending of technical videos to the club".

According to the Tax Agency, sticking to Negreira

's own statement

, "Barcelona wanted to make sure that no arbitration decisions were made against them, that is, that everything was neutral."

The most striking fact of that period: that for

two and a half seasons

Barça was not awarded any penalty.

Although in accordance with the new Sports Law, the case would have prescribed sportingly, but if the Prosecutor's Office were to prove a crime of corruption between individuals, the sentences could even have consequences on the legal person, in this case Barcelona, ​​including in case extreme suspension of activity.

Juventus is already tasting this season the consequences of the Prisma case.

In just two months he was left out of the Champions League, his president has resigned, he has been sanctioned with

15 points in Serie A

and his shares have plummeted 22%.

The coach,

Massimiliano Allegri

announced that, based on what was seen on the pitch, the goal of his star-studded squad is not to be relegated, but right now they have managed to climb up to seventh place.

22 transfers with fictitious capital gains

The Italian team finds itself in this situation after the Prosecutor's Office identified up to 22 transfers with fictitious capital gains

.

And he is beginning to review the false salary cuts agreed with the footballers during the pandemic, which could cause new economic sanctions and the loss of another twenty points, which would mean sending them virtually to Serie B.

In England,

the future of City

is currently in the hands of an independent commission, which must decide the price for not providing truthful information on player and coach salaries, income and sponsorship, in addition to not complying with UEFA's financial fair play

and

the

premier.

It seems difficult for City to be stripped of any of their titles, but

relegation or loss of points

are on the table.

In fact, other English clubs have already suffered for breaking financial rules.

And although in the end the sanction was lifted, UEFA went so far as to sanction City in 2020 with two years out of European competitions for irregularities in the income of its sponsors.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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