Former ref Urizar Azpitarte slams 'disgraceful' Negreira amid Barça scandal
Ex-referee Urizar Azpitarte doesn't hold back on Negreira, while explaining his own post-career business dealings with Spanish clubs including Real Sociedad.
As the Negreira case reaches its three-year milestone, former Spanish referee Urizar Azpitarte has delivered a scathing assessment of the man at the center of Barcelona’s ongoing scandal.
‘Disgraceful’ Negreira
Speaking on El Chiringuito, Azpitarte didn’t mince his words about the former vice-president of Spain’s refereeing committee who received €7.5 million from Barcelona between 2001-2018:
“He’s a disgrace and a terrible person for refereeing,” Azpitarte declared, adding that “it’s a problem between him and Barcelona” that they should sort out themselves.
Clearing up his own club connections
Interestingly, Azpitarte also addressed his own financial links to various Spanish clubs, revealing he holds shares in multiple teams including:
- Real Sociedad
- Alavés
- Málaga
- Several others
He explained these shareholdings came about through his post-refereeing business ventures, not during his active officiating career.
The business explanation
Azpitarte detailed how he ran a nationwide courier company with offices across Spain, including Barcelona where he rented space from former Barça president Núñez.
“When clubs converted to limited companies, they didn’t have money to pay me, so they offered shares instead,” he explained, comparing his business to a cheaper alternative to the postal service.
What initially caused a bit of argy-bargy was confusion about the timeline of these investments. Some viewers thought he meant he was a shareholder while still reffing games, which would’ve been proper dodgy. However, it was later clarified that all these business dealings happened after he hung up his whistle.
The Negreira case continues to cast a long shadow over Spanish football, with four Barcelona presidents implicated in payments that have raised serious questions about potential conflicts of interest at the highest levels of the game.