“Rotten Club to the Core” – $5 Billion FC Barcelona Charged Following Corruption Scandal, Face Fans’ Wrath

The news around FC Barcelona rocked Spanish soccer a few days back. Many Spanish media outlets reported the Catalans paid millions to a company that was owned by a Spanish referee. The said referee was vice-president of the Spanish Referee’s committee. Now, the Barcelona public prosecutor’s office has charged the club with corruption over the payments made to the referee, enraging the fans.

The prosecutor has also charged former presidents of the club, Josep Maria Bartomeu and Sandro Rosell. The alleged payments were said to be made between 2001 and 2018. Jose Maria Negreira, was the referee who’s company received payments totalling around 7 Million Euros from 2001 to 2018, after which Negreira left the position. On Friday, the prosecutor filed an official complaint against the club and its two former presidents. It will be interesting to see how things pan out for the Catalan club amid fan outrage.

Fans enraged at FC Barcelona for corruption

Since the news of the prosecutor charging the club broke, fans over social media are mocking the club for the alleged payments they made. One of the enraged fans wrote, “Rotten club to the core.” Another fan labeled the club a ‘disgrace’ to football while other labeled it as fraudulent.

One of the social media users reminded of the famous levers that Barcelona pulled for getting out of a messy economic situation. The user feels the club will pull another lever to pay bribes again. A few want La Liga to take action and relegate the club from the first division.

Few fans on social media think a punishment similar to that of Juventus will also do. Serie A deducted 15 points from Juventus after their scandal, and further investigations are still going. Similarly, few fans think the prosecutor’s charges are just a start. They feel more details will come out over time and will hurt the legacy of the club for a long time.

Only time will tell what more details come out from further investigation. It will be interesting to see how the investigation and corruption charges affect the club in the current campaign. Also, fans will be eager to know what consequences the club faces over these corruption charges in the future.

What next for the club on the field?

Barcelona sits comfortably on the top of the La Liga table with nine points lead over the closest title rival, Real Madrid. They will visit Athletic Bilbao this weekend and look forward to getting three points from the game. With 14 game weeks to go, the La Liga title race is all but safe for Barcelona.

READ MORE: “We Don’t Want Him.. Disappears in Big Games” – PSG Legend Slams Lionel Messi for Not Helping the Team ‘In the Slightest’

Barcelona is still in contention for the Copa del Rey as they won 1-0 in the first leg of the semi-final. They will host Real Madrid in the return leg at Camp Nou and will hope to go into the final amidst off-the-field woes. 

WATCH THIS STORY: Alexis Ohanian’s Seven-Word Reaction to Alex Morgan’s Heart-Warming Disclosure

What do you think of the corruption charges against Barcelona? Will it affect the club on the field?