Barcelona’s Rep Jeopardized by Payments to Former Referee

Barcelona’s Rep Jeopardized by Payments to Former Referee
FC Barcelona club President Joan Laporta pauses during a news conference in Barcelona, Spain, on Aug. 6, 2021. Joan Monfort/AP Photo
The Associated Press
Updated:
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BARCELONA, Spain—Barcelona, the team that once awed the soccer world with its beautiful style on the field and its social commitment to being “more than a club,” is in danger of tarnishing its reputation with a scandal of its own making.

Although the club denies doing anything wrong, a Spanish state prosecutor is probing Barcelona’s payment of millions of dollars over several years to a company that belonged to the vice president of the refereeing committee in Spain.