Shocking Days in Spanish Football: Racism, Corruption, and Referee Scandals

Here's a chronological summary of events over the last seven days surrounding racist chants and other hate crimes, corrupt officials, money laundering, manipulating referees, and more in Spain. The information has been compiled from the German Real Madrid fan portal realtotal.de:

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Friday, March 15

Following racist chants directed at Vinícius Júnior prior to the matches between Barcelona-Napoli and Atlético-Inter, Real Madrid has announced through a press release that it has filed a complaint with the public prosecutor's office concerning racist insults.

Saturday, March 16

Real Madrid secured a 4-2 victory against CA Osasuna, during which there were severe insults directed at Vinícius from some spectators. It is important to note: these were not primarily racist insults, but they could still potentially constitute hate crimes.

Monday, March 18

Real Madrid has announced in a press release that it has filed a complaint against referee Juan Martínez Munuera with the Spanish Football Federation and has also reported the incidents to the National Commission against Violence, Racism, Xenophobia, and Intolerance in Sport.

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Tuesday, March 19

The Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) and the Technical Committee of Referees (CTA) have contradicted Real Madrid in their own statement, defending the accused referee by claiming the allegations are unjustified. Allegedly, Martínez Munuera received no indications of misconduct, although videos show Antonio Rüdiger and Daniel Carvajal pointing out specific issues to the referee.

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José María Enríquez Negreira in court! Though only for a brief moment: The 78-year-old appeared before a judge but exercised his right to refuse to testify, and was back on the street 25 minutes later.

Wednesday, March 20

And LaLiga? The association led by Javier Tebas clearly sides with the RFEF and referee Martínez Munuera, even showing a marked rejection of Real Madrid's complaint.

Raid at the Spanish Football Federation in Las Rozas near Madrid! According to TVE, even seven individuals were arrested, among them supposedly legal advisor Tomás González Cueto. What's the issue? It's less about the Barça-Gate surrounding Negreira and the 18 years of payments to the then vice-president of the CTA, but more about another familiar figure: Luis Rubiales. He has allegedly fled to South America as the Guardia Civil is currently examining some old files – among them, apparently irregular contracts that led to the relocation of the Supercopa de España in 2020 to Saudi Arabia. To recall, during his term as president of the RFEF, Rubiales, in a highly dubious manner, "sold" the Spanish Super Cup to the Saudi Arabian federation in collaboration with the company of then-active player Gerard Piqué, Kosmos. The issues at hand apparently involve corruption and even money laundering. As reported by the news agency AP, even Rubiales’ residence in Granada was searched.

Also under scrutiny: Luis Medina Cantalejo. The 60-year-old former referee is now the head of the infamous Referees Committee CTA and has been charged, according to Spanish media, including El Debate, with having manipulated VAR images. The accusation is that he, along with referees Carlos Clos Gómez and Santiago Jaime Latre, deliberately disadvantaged Real Madrid.

Thursday, March 21

Initial consequences at the RFEF! The federation has dismissed two employees: Legal Director Pedro González Segura and Human Resources Director José Javier Jiménez.