Barcelona set to escape relegation despite new revelations in referee scandal

Last week, news broke about Football Club Barcelona's suspicious payouts to the former vice president of Technical Committee of Referees, Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira. It was earlier believed that the club could face relegation and sanctions over the case, but now it seems as though they will escape any repercussions.

According to Football Espana, La Liga President Javier Tebas himself confirmed that the league will not be able to impose any sanctions on the club due to the statute of limitations. Simply put, the club would not be liable to face sporting sanctions for offences made over three years ago.

It may be remembered that the Enriquez Negreira payments were initially believed to have been made from 2016-2018. According to the evidence available thus far, the club seems to have cut ties in 2018 after Enriquez Negreira lost his position as VP of the Technical Committee.

The only time that La Liga will be able to pursue a case and impose sanctions on Barcelona is if any evidence emerges that could prove that such irregularities have occurred in the last three years.

So far, the statute of limitations is allowing Barcelona to evade punishment, even though the investigation has uncovered payments from the club to Enriquez Negreira's company, Dansil 95, dating back to the 2001-02 season.

Furthermore, the amount that has been funnelled to the company has now ballooned to at least €6.659m (£5.9m).

The case continues to become even more complicated, as new reports suggest that Enriquez Negreira attempted to blackmail Barcelona when the club cut ties with him in 2018. He allegedly threatened to reveal "irregularities" within the club which could lead to another scandal.

Last week, Barcelona claimed in a statement that the payments made to Dansil 95 were completely "normal" and part of regular practices done by clubs. They claim to have been receiving reports to ensure no controversial refereeing calls were made against the club. Barcelona were quick to clarify that they were paying to ensure neutrality instead of seeking preferential treatment. This, of course, has raised eyebrows all over the football world.