Gerard López, the former coach of Barcelona Atlètic, was the last witness to appear before Judge Alejandra Gil of Investigative Court No. 1 in Barcelona, who is leading this thorny case. His testimony completed the stage of gathering statements. The judge now has only to await the financial reports from the Catalan club before she settles the fate of the case in early 2027.
López, who led the reserve team between 2015 and 2018, strongly defended the usefulness of the refereeing reports prepared by Javier Enríquez, son of José María Enríquez Negreira, the former vice-president of the technical committee of referees.
The current Granollers coach told the court those reports were extremely useful and largely comprehensive, especially during his time coaching Barcelona Atlètic in the Second Division, a league that gets nowhere near the television coverage professional football enjoys.
Without television footage and analysis, López explained, studying opponents and referees became far harder, and Enríquez's work clearly helped to fill that gap.
He also stressed that the reports were up to date and accurate, drawing on the match immediately preceding his team's own fixture. That gave the technical staff a practical insight to carry into their preparation.
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López's testimony adds a new dimension to the case, which the radio station "Cadena SER" revealed in 2023. It relates to payments Barcelona made over 17 years to Negreira and his son. The judiciary is investigating possible crimes including mismanagement, document forgery and sporting corruption, accusations the Catalan club denies, maintaining that the payments bought genuine technical consultancy services.
Toni Alonso, who held the post of reserve team delegate for 32 years, had given his testimony before the judge earlier.
Alonso explained that the handling of the referees' reports varied from one coach to another. Some, such as Gerard López, made use of them and benefited. Others ignored them entirely, foremost among them Luis Enrique, who focused only on what he could control on the pitch and considered referees beyond his influence.
Judge Gil, meanwhile, is awaiting the financial information Barcelona must send, following a request from Real Madrid.
She had initially rejected the Madrid club's request to obtain the audit reports and financial reports for the period between 2010 and 2021. The Barcelona Provincial Court then accepted the request in part, adding a fresh layer of tension between the two traditional rivals.
With the door to testimonies now closed, the Negreira case enters its final stage before the decisive ruling. Either the judge is convinced that what happened amounted to nothing more than legitimate services, and draws the curtain on the case, or she finds sufficient grounds for suspicion to refer the file to trial. That scenario would reignite one of the most divisive cases in the history of Spanish football.
