Police on Thursday raided Spain’s football refereeing headquarters as part of a probe into claims FC Barcelona paid for favourable decisions in a fresh blow for Spain’s scandal-hit football association.

The search was ordered by the judge investigating the so-called Negreira case involving payments allegedly made to a firm owned by a former top refereeing official Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira.

Police began the search early on Thursday at the offices of the CTA referees’ technical committee located at the RFEF football federation headquarters on the outskirts of Madrid.

A Barcelona court ordered the search “as part of the investigation into the suspect payments made by the Catalan club” to Negreira, a statement said.

Prosecutors suspect that between 2001 and 2018, Barca paid millions of euros to Negreira’s company Dasnil 95 to secure favourable refereeing decisions from corrupt officials.

While the club admits making payments to Dasnil, it said the firm was paid to advise it on refereeing matters. It denies all wrongdoing.

Also Thursday, magistrate Joaquin Aguirre said he would investigate the club and several of its former directors for bribery.

The fact that Barcelona paid “one of the CTA’s three vice presidents through intermediary companies” is not in dispute, the judge wrote in his decision.

The payments, which lasted about 18 years, grew steadily “from an initial 70,000 euros a year to 700,000 euros” and stopped when Negreira left his position in 2018, he wrote.

“It stands to reason that the payments by FC Barcelona satisfied the club’s interests given their duration and annual increase,” Aguirre said.

“The payments resulted in refereeing decisions sought by FC Barcelona in such a way that must have involved unfair treatment of other teams and consequently systemic corruption across Spanish refereeing as a whole.”

Police investigators were looking into the scope of the graft, he said.

‘Illegal acts favouring Barca’

Prosecutors in March opened a corruption investigation over the affair, naming FC Barcelona and four others: Negreira, his son Javier Enriquez, and two of Barcelona’s former presidents, Josep Maria Bartomeu and Sandro Rosell.

They allege Barca paid more than 7.3 million euros to Negreira who was a vice president at the CTA between 1994 and 2018.

The payments stopped when Negreira left the CTA following a reshuffle at the RFEF.

When the money stopped, Negreira sent a letter to Bartomeu, Barca’s president at the time, threatening to reveal information that would “seriously harm the club” if it didn’t pay up.

It was clear from the letter that Negreira “was aware that there had been illegal acts that favoured FC Barcelona that were quite serious”, the judge said.

The investigation began in spring 2022 when Spain’s tax authorities identified irregularities in payments made by Dasnil 95 between 2016 and 2018.

The raid comes as Spain’s football federation is struggling to manage a crisis triggered by the World Cup kiss scandal in which its now disgraced former chief Luis Rubiales forcibly kissed midfielder Jenni Hermoso.

Source: AFP

Mauricio Pochettino has pleaded for more time as he scrambles for solutions to Chelsea’s mounting crisis. But how patient will the owners be?

The Blues, European champions only two years ago, are a lowly 14th in the Premier League table, just four points above the relegation zone, after one win in their first six matches.

Their latest setback was a 1-0 defeat against Aston Villa on Sunday, with Ollie Watkins scoring the winner after the dismissal of Chelsea defender Malo Gusto.

Last year, Chelsea mustered their lowest points tally of the Premier League era but they have made an even more dire start to the current campaign.

“Give me time,” Pochettino pleaded after Sunday’s match, urging the club’s American owners to back him.

“They (the owners) are disappointed, they arrived at the club and are so excited to build a project.

“Of course they feel disappointed but at the same time they need to support the plan.”

Pochettino was confirmed as the new man in the Stamford Bridge hot seat in May — becoming the third permanent boss since Todd Boehly’s consortium bought the west London club from Roman Abramovich in 2022.

Boehly backed his manager by bankrolling another huge spending spree during the summer transfer window, taking Chelsea’s outlay on new players in just over a year beyond £1 billion ($1.2 billion).

But the return on their investment has been pitiful during a period of churn and upheaval on and off the pitch.

Goal-shy Chelsea

Chelsea have mustered just five goals in their first six league matches — and three of those came in the 3-0 win against newly promoted Luton.

They have failed to score in 13 Premier League matches in 2023 — more than any other side.

The frustrated Pochettino bemoaned his team’s lack of luck in the Villa defeat, saying the only thing missing was goals.

“We need to be aware about what is going on but in some way we need to be calm because the team is creating, the team is alive, the team is fighting every single action,” he said.

Pochettino can point to a lengthy injury list as a partial explanation for Chelsea’s blunt attack.

He lost France forward Christopher Nkunku to a serious knee injury in a pre-season friendly, but others including Mykhailo Mudryk, Nicolas Jackson, Raheem Sterling and Cole Palmer have failed to deliver.

The former Tottenham and Paris Saint-Germain boss will be painfully aware that Chelsea are not a patient club — the hire-and-fire culture of the Abramovich era persists under Boehly’s leadership.

Chelsea sacked Thomas Tuchel in the early weeks of last season, and Graham Potter suffered the same fate in April, axed after less than seven months in charge when the club were 11th in the table.

Pochettino enhanced his reputation during his five-year stint at Tottenham, subsequently taking charge at PSG, where he won the Ligue 1 title.

However, he failed to meet PSG’s primary goal of winning the Champions League, leaving his managerial CV still relatively light on silverware compared with some of his Premier League counterparts.

Next up for Chelsea are in-form Brighton, who travel to Stamford Bridge on Wednesday for a League Cup third round tie.

They then face local rivals Fulham in the Premier League, with matches looming against Arsenal, Tottenham and champions Manchester City.

The Villa fans delighted in the discomfort of the Chelsea boss at the weekend, chanting that he would be “sacked in the morning”.

There are no signs that the club hierarchy are preparing to pull the trigger yet, but they may feel compelled to act soon unless there is a dramatic improvement.

Source: AFP

FIFA suspended Luis Rubiales as president of Spain’s football federation on Saturday for kissing Spanish Women’s World Cup player Jenni Hermoso on the lips, and banned him from making contact with her.

“(We) decided today to provisionally suspend Mr. Luis Rubiales from all football-related activities at national and international level,” world football’s governing body said in a statement.

FIFA’s suspension of Spanish federation (RFEF) president Rubiales will last 90 days, while they undertake disciplinary proceedings against the 46-year-old.

They added that both Rubiales and the RFEF are prohibited from contacting Hermoso and those close to her.

FIFA’s move was the latest development in a deepening row between Rubiales and the RFEF and Hermoso and her Spain teammates which the players say has tarnished the glory of their World Cup win in Australia last Sunday.

Hermoso said in a statement on Friday that Rubiales and the federation put “continuous pressure” on her and her family and friends to make her appear alongside Rubiales in a video in which he apologised for his kiss, but she declined.

Rubiales refused to resign at an emergency RFEF meeting on Friday and on Saturday, the federation threatened to take legal action over Hermoso’s “lies” about the kiss.

Hermoso said “at no time” did she consent to the kiss following the 1-0 win against England in Sydney, which Rubiales described as “mutual, euphoric and consensual”.

The RFEF responded, saying they would “demonstrate each of the lies that have been spread, whether in the name of the player, if that is the case, or by the player herself”.

It would take “as many legal actions as necessary to defend the honour of the President of the RFEF.”

Hermoso, 33, along with 80 other Spain players, including the entire World Cup winning squad, said they were going on strike and would not play for the national team until the “leadership” changed.

That was a reaction to Rubiales refusing to resign despite unprecedented criticism. He claims he is the target of a “social assassination”.

Hermoso hit back strongly against his claims the kiss was consensual, saying she felt “vulnerable and the victim of an assault”.

“I want to clarify that at no time did I consent to the kiss that he gave me and in no case did I seek to lift up the president,” she said in the statement released through her Futpro union.

The RFEF published a series of images on their website attempting to demonstrate that Hermoso did in fact lift up Rubiales, as “the first demonstration that the facts exposed by Mr. President are absolutely true”.

Their threat of legal action appeared targeted at not just Hermoso and Futpro, but anybody who may have damaged “the president’s honourability”.

The Spanish government confirmed earlier Saturday they had also started a process which may allow them to suspend Rubiales from his post next week.

‘Abuse is abuse’

Hermoso’s union Futpro said the 81 players were striking to help foster change.

Players from World Cup runners-up England released a statement in support of Hermoso on their social networks, signed “The Lionesses”.

“Unacceptable actions allowed to happen by a sexist and patriarchal organisation. Abuse is abuse and we have all seen the truth,” it read.

“We all stand with you, Jenni Hermoso, and all players of the Spanish team.”

Before the tournament 15 Spain players had taken a similar stance against the federation and coach Jorge Vilda, but many relented and three were part of the World Cup team.

Many players, including double Ballon d’Or winner Alexia Putellas, showed their support for Hermoso on social media on Friday, some including the phrase “it’s over” — potentially referring to Rubiales’ leadership of Spanish football.

Now Putellas, Hermoso, the World Cup’s player of the tournament Aitana Bonmati and others say they will not play for Spain again until Rubiales and potentially others leave their posts.

In its statement on Saturday, the federation appeared to send a thinly veiled threat to the striking players.

“The RFEF respects, as it has always respected, the decisions of the players who wish to participate or not with the Spanish national team in international matches, although it is clear national team duty is an obligation for all federated persons if they are called up,” the RFEF said.

Source: AFP

Romelu Lukaku has revealed he is set to sign for Roma from Chelsea, according to Belgian media on Saturday, as the two clubs try to hammer out a loan deal.

Newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws reported that Belgium striker Lukaku has said he is to move to the Italian capital.

“I’m nervous. Tomorrow (Sunday) I’m flying to Rome to sign (for Roma),” HLN quoted him as saying at a youth tournament in which his son made his Anderlecht debut.

Italian media report the two clubs are yet to agree a deal as the Serie A club want to loan Lukaku for around five million euros ($5.4 million), lower than Chelsea’s valuation.

Sky Sport in Italy report that Roma’s sporting director Tiago Pinto has denied that negotiations would be done in time for Lukaku to travel to Italy on Sunday.

Chelsea have been trying to offload outcast Lukaku all summer but neither Inter Milan — where he was loaned by the Blues last summer — nor Juventus decided to sign the Belgium striker.

Inter were deep in talks with Chelsea but reportedly gave up on the 30-year-old after they discovered he had been secretly talking to their biggest rivals Juventus and AC Milan.

Last month Inter captain Lautaro Martinez said he had been “disappointed” by Lukaku for hiding from his teammates and refusing to answer calls before the deal broke down.

Meanwhile Juve would have had to sell Serbia striker Dusan Vlahovic in order to sign Lukaku, a move which supporters vocally opposed all pre-season and during their 3-0 win at Udinese last weekend.

With a permanent sale now off the table less than a week before the end of the summer transfer window Chelsea are talking to Roma about another loan, with the Italian club’s American owners travelling to London on Friday to negotiate a deal.

Roma are at Verona on later Saturday and are set to start with an attack of Paulo Dybala and Italy’s Andrea Belotti, who also played together at Palermo.

Earlier on Saturday Roma confirmed the signing of Iran forward Sardar Azmoun on loan from Bayer Leverkusen.

Roma said they have brought in Azmoun, 28, “on a temporary basis until 30 June 2024” with “the option to make the transfer permanent”.

Azmoun, who has 45 goals in 71 appearances for his country, arrives after a difficult spell in Germany where he only scored five times since moving to Leverkusen in January 2021.

Source: AFP

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Tuesday blasted as “insufficient” the apology given by Spain’s football federation chief for kissing star player Jenni Hermoso on the lips after Spain won the Women’s World Cup

Football Federation chief Luis Rubiales, 45, kissed Hermoso as he handed the Spanish team their gold medals after they beat England 1-0 in the final on Sunday in Sydney, provoking outrage in Spain. He kissed other players on the cheek or embraced them.

“What we saw was an unacceptable gesture,” the Socialist premier told a news conference when asked about the outcry over the unsolicited kiss.

“I also think the apologies given by Mr. Rubiales are insufficient. And I even think that they are inappropriate, and that he must go further,” added Sanchez, whose government has pushed through tougher laws on sexual consent and harassment.

As the controversy over the kiss grew, Rubiales apologised on Monday in a video posted on social media.

“It was done without any ill intention in a moment of the highest exuberance. Here we saw it as natural and normal but outside it has caused a commotion.

“I have no choice but to apologise and to learn from this… and when representing the federation take more care,” he said, adding that he thought the furore was “idiotic”.

Rubiales also stressed that he had a “magnificent relationship” with Hermoso.

‘Didn’t like it’

On Sunday, the 33-year-old player posted a video on Instagram showing the celebrations in the changing room in which she responded to teasing from team-mates by saying: “I didn’t like it, eh!” while laughing.

She later downplayed the incident in a statement released by the federation, saying it was “a totally spontaneous mutual gesture because of the immense joy that winning a World Cup brings”.

“The president and I have a great relationship. His behaviour with all of us has been outstanding and it was a natural gesture of affection and gratitude,” she added, according to the federation statement.

Video footage circulated online after the match also showed Rubiales, who was sitting in the VIP area of the stadium near Spain’s Queen Letizia and FIFA president Gianni Infantino, grab his groin as he celebrated the final whistle.

Deputy Prime Minister Yolanda Diaz had on Monday called for Rubiales’ resignation, saying “his excuses do not work at all”, while Equality Minister Irene Montero said a non-consensual kiss is “a kind of sex violence all women suffer daily”.

“It is very simple. Two people kiss if they both want to, if there is consent. Only yes is yes,” Montero added on social media platform X, which was formerly called Twitter.

‘Century of women’

Sanchez, a self-described feminist, appointed a government with a record number of 11 women in 17 cabinet posts when he took office in June 2018.

“The 21st century should be — I am convinced it will be — the century of women on all fronts,” he said earlier on Tuesday at a reception for Spain’s winning team.

“I believe women’s football, women’s sport, has a brilliant future, all we can say as representatives of Spanish society is that Spain is proud of you, of what you achieved and how you achieved.”

Rubiales was also at the reception and received a frosty greeting from Sanchez when he arrived.

Spain’s preparations for the World Cup were thrown into disarray last September when 15 players sent an email to the Spanish federation saying they did not want to be considered for selection.

Their protest was aimed chiefly at coach Jorge Vilda and his methods, including complaints that he was too strict.

Rubiales supported Vilda and only three of the 15 were recalled for the World Cup.

Source: AFP

Thierry Henry was on Monday named as coach of France’s Under-21s and will be in charge of the team competing at next year’s Olympics in Paris.

The 46-year-old former Arsenal and France striker replaces Sylvain Ripoll and returns to management after leaving his role as Belgium assistant following last year’s World Cup.

Henry, who won the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000 with France, has struggled to hit the same heights in coaching that he reached as a player.

He lasted barely three months as Monaco coach in the 2018-19 season and stepped down at MLS club Montreal Impact in February 2021 after just over a year at the helm.

He has also worked previously with Arsenal’s youth teams and twice served on the Belgium coaching staff, helping the country finish third at the 2018 World Cup.

Henry, scorer of 51 goals in 123 games for France, has been working as a TV consultant in recent times.

He could have a team built around Kylian Mbappé at the Olympics, with the France captain making no secret of his desire to play at the tournament, which is largely reserved for players aged 23 or younger.

Henry’s first match as France Under-21 coach is a friendly against Denmark in Nancy on September 7, four days before his team’s opening Euro 2025 qualifier away to Slovenia.

Source: AFP

Manchester City won the UEFA Super Cup for the first time on Wednesday but needed penalties to beat Sevilla after a 1-1 draw in Athens.

Youssef En-Nesyri’s towering first-half header gave the Spaniards the lead.

European champions City were far from their slick best, but hit back to force the game to penalties through Cole Palmer’s header.

City were then perfect from the spot and prevailed 5-4 in the shootout after Sevilla defender Nemanja Gudelj smashed against the bar.

Pep Guardiola has bemoaned his side’s lack of preparation for the new season and it showed under the baking heat in the Greek capital.

City badly missed the creative presence of Kevin De Bruyne and Bernardo Silva through a combination of injury and illness.

A four-month absence for De Bruyne due to a serious hamstring injury has exacerbated the loss of firepower offered by Ilkay Gundogan and Riyad Mahrez since last season.

West Ham’s Brazilian international Lucas Paqueta has been linked with a move to the Etihad and this performance may serve as further proof City need to strengthen before the end of the transfer market.

Sevilla began their La Liga season with a disappointing 2-1 home defeat to Valencia.

But just as they did last season in lifting a seventh Europa League despite a 12th-placed league finish, they rose to the big occasion.

Sevilla goalkeeper Yassine Bounou was playing what is expected to be his final game for the club before a move to Saudi side Al Hilal.

The Moroccan international denied City a perfect start when he clawed away Nathan Ake’s powerful header that was destined for the bottom corner.

But Guardiola’s men soon became ponderous in possession and were punished on 25 minutes.

Gvardiol start

Josko Gvardiol was making his first start for City since a 90 million euro ($99 million) move from RB Leipzig.

The Croatian international was beaten to Marcos Acuna’s cross by En-Nesyri, who bulleted a header in off the post.

City’s sluggishness was in evidence again at the start of the second-half when Lucas Ocampos skipped past Kyle Walker’s desperate lunge to set up En-Nesyri with a golden chance to double Sevilla’s lead.

The Moroccan striker was one-on-one with Ederson but fired straight into the Brazilian goalkeeper’s legs.

Sevilla were left to rue that miss as City hit back against the run of play on 63 minutes.

Mahrez’s departure has opened the door to City academy graduate Palmer to the first-team and the England under-21 international, who also scored against Arsenal in the Community Shield, is taking his chance.

Rodri was City’s hero with the only goal in the Champions League final against Inter Milan and the Spaniard this time provided the assist with a perfectly measured cross for Palmer to cushion a header past Bounou.

En-Nesyri was guilty of another wasted one-on-one moments later as Ederson flew off his line to make a block.

Erling Haaland had scored twice in all of his previous three appearances against Sevilla, but the Norwegian barely got a sight of goal before the spot-kicks.

Instead, City’s best chance to win the game in normal time fell to Ake as the Dutchman’s downward header was tipped over.

However, there was no perfect ending for Bounou as Haaland, Julian Alvarez, Mateo Kovacic, Jack Grealish and Walker all held their nerve to score in the shootout.

Source: AFP

French superstar Kylian Mbappe has been left out of Paris Saint-Germain’s season opener on Saturday deepening the stand-off between the France captain and the Ligue 1 champions.

As Mbappe’s contract dispute with the Qatari-backed club rumbles on PSG announced a new signing – Ousmane Dembele on a five-year-deal from Barcelona.

He is the ninth summer arrival at a side which has lost Lionel Messi to Inter Miami, and may soon be facing up to life without Mbappe.

In an affair that has dominated transfer market headlines Mbappe has refused to sign an extension to his PSG deal, meaning he can leave for free next year, with Real Madrid long seen as his preferred destination.

PSG want to sell him now and bring in a significant transfer fee for a player who cost 180 million euros ($198m) from Monaco in 2017.

“The position is very clear. If Kylian wants to stay, he must sign a new contract. We can’t let the best player in the world today leave for free. It’s impossible,” PSG president Nasser al-Khelaifi said last month.

Mbappe has not been allowed train with the first team and played only one of PSG’s five warm-up games and was not invited to the pre-season tour in Japan and South Korea.

Despite his sidelining Mbappe was one of the first to welcome Dembele to the Parc des Princes.

“Welcome home my brother, so happy to see you here, the adventure begins,” Mbappe posted on social media to greet Dembele with whom he won the World Cup in 2018.

The 26-year-old Dembele joined Barcelona in 2017 from Borussia Dortmund and had extended his contract last year until 2024.

PSG took advantage of the player’s 50 million euros ($54 million) release clause to sign the former Rennes forward.

“I’m very happy to join Paris Saint-Germain and can’t wait to play in my new colours,” Dembele said in a PSG statement.

“I hope to continue to grow here and make all who love the club proud.”

Ninth signing

Dembele, who has 37 caps for France and scored four goals, joins three other World Cup winners at PSG — Mbappe, Presnel Kimpembe and Lucas Hernandez.

He is the club’s ninth summer signing after defenders Milan Skriniar and Lucas Hernandez, midfielders Manuel Ugarte and Cher Ndour, forwards Marco Asensio, Lee Kang-in and Goncalo Ramos and goalkeeper Arnau Tenas.

At Barcelona, despite early problems adjusting to the Catalan side and injuries, Dembele scored 40 goals in 185 matches, winning three league titles in 2018, 2019 and 2023 and two Spanish Cups 2018 and 2021.

PSG are bolstering their attacking options with the futures of Mbappe and also Neymar uncertain.

“The passion and determination shown by Ousmane when he joined PSG is fantastic and is the attitude required for all our players,” said Khelaifi.

“We are proud to have another French World Cup winner in Paris Saint-Germain at the moment to enter a new great era for our club.”

New PSG coach Luis Enrique also left out Brazilian Neymar from Saturday evening’s game with the forward suffering a “viral syndrome”.

The club are reported to be open to selling the former Barcelona star and Italian midfielder Marco Verratti, who has also not been called up against Lorient.

Enrique is expected to start three newcomers in attack – Lee, Portuguese Ramos and Spaniard Asensio.

Source: AFP

Gianluigi Buffon announced his retirement from football on Wednesday, bringing down the curtain on a glorious career as one of the world’s greatest ever goalkeepers.

“That’s all folks! You gave me everything. I gave you everything. We did it together,” he posted in English on social media.

Buffon, 45, hangs up his gloves after two final years at Parma, the club where it all began nearly three decades ago when Italian football was Europe’s gold standard.

He had a contract which ran until next summer with Parma but he will no longer be a part of the Serie B club’s bid to return to the top flight after two years away.

Buffon is a symbol of a halcyon age when the best footballers went to play in Serie A and Italy developed dozens of world class players.

The former Italy captain has a record 176 caps for his country while also holding the record for Serie A matches played – 657, stretching back to 1995.

After bursting onto the scene as a 17-year-old, keeping out the likes of George Weah and Roberto Baggio in his Parma debut against AC Milan, Buffon won 27 major trophies.

The majority came over 19 seasons at Juventus, where he won 10 Serie A titles, five Italian Cups, while he also won the UEFA Cup in 1999 for Parma as part of possibly the best team in the club’s history.

He also won Ligue 1 with Paris Saint-Germain in 2019 before returning to Juve, but he will be most fondly remembered for Italy’s victory at the 2006 World Cup.

Buffon was one of the stars as an Azzurri team battered by the ‘Calciopoli’ match-fixing scandal – which would cost him as Juve keeper two league titles – beat France on penalties after knocking out hosts Germany in the semi-finals.

That was the last hurrah for a generation which had made Italy one of the world’s dominant football nations, and as their fortunes slowly declined he suffered the ignominy of two straight group stage exits before bowing out not long after failure to qualify for the 2018 tournament.

Buffon won his last trophy in his final season with Juve two years ago, lifting the Italian Cup alongside Federico Chiesa, 22 years after he triumphed with Parma alongside his teammate’s father Enrico.

‘I shouldn’t have apologised’

However Buffon’s career has also been plagued by scandal, not least consistent rumours that is, or at least once was, a sympathiser of the far-right.

He drew fierce criticism for choosing the number 88, a neo-Nazi code for ‘Heil Hitler’, on his jersey for the 2000-01 season.

Two years before he wore a t-shirt with the neo-fascist slogan ‘Boia chi molla’, which loosely translated means death before surrender, under his kit for a match against Lazio, who have some of Europe’s most hard-right supporters.

He publicly apologised for the t-shirt, claiming he had no idea of the source of the phrase, but in his 2010 book ‘Number One’ he said that he was still shocked at how he was “crucified”.

Buffon also claimed he chose the number 88 because he wasn’t allowed 00, which he wanted to represent “balls”, as a symbol of his comeback from a period out injured, and that 88 was simply four balls.

He changed his number to 77 but in his book he expressed outrage at the criticism he received from Rome’s Jewish Community, saying his only mistake was “being weak”.

“I shouldn’t have apologised and I should have pushed to keep the number I had already chosen,” he said.

Not long after winning the World Cup he was cleared of illegally betting on Serie A matches, allegations which reared their head at the height of the ‘Calciopoli’ scandal.

Source: AFP