Shockingly, leaked audios between disgraced ex-Spanish Federation president Luis Rubiales and Gerard Piqué reveal a scheme to divert funds from UEFA to compensate certain players, including Lionel Messi, for their significant wage cuts during the covid-19 pandemic.
According to The Objective, players from FC Barcelona, in conjunction with Rubiales and UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin, devised a plan to funnel funds through the Spanish federation and UEFA to alleviate the 70% pay cut the Barcelona squad had endured.
The discussions between Luis Rubiales and Gerard Piqué began in April 2020, when the defender expressed Messi’s concern with the wage reductions due to the pandemic. Rubiales then relayed the concerns to UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin and suggested using UEFA funds to compensate the players during the pandemic. The former Spanish federation president also demanded strict confidentiality, as expressed by Lionel Messi.
The scheme
The report indicates that for three months, Piqué and Messi negotiated with UEFA and Rubiales to divert around 30 million euros from Nyon to compensate for the salary losses suffered by several Barcelona players.
Everything started accelerating on June 15, 2020, with a message from Rubiales to Gerard: “We need to revisit the issue of the funds or at least get the 30 million… to make them available to you.”
“Geri, I have a silly idea but it might work. It could be good if you (Piqué) and Leo (Messi) send a signed jersey to Ceferin… He has hinted that he doesn’t like Madrid, that he prefers Barça…,” stated Rubiales.
The Objective also revealed that four videoconferences took place where Messi was present, prioritizing that nothing was leaked.
Rubiales proposed to UEFA the diversion of 4% of the broadcast rights from all the entity’s matches for some players. This was a formula to mitigate the salary reductions that footballers were facing during the pandemic. Until May 2021, The Objective revealed new audios with conversations showing Ceferin as a potential ally of the Barça players and also the former president of the RFEF as the messenger among all parties.
“I’m saying this because he told me that next week he’s going to make a proposal… He is very cautious, but with you he has loosened up and started talking badly about Florentino Pérez and your president (Bartomeu), but he has hinted that he no longer wants Real Madrid and prefers Barcelona,” more excerpts from conversations between Piqué and Luis Rubiales about the operation.
Penalties
In Article 430 of the Spanish Penal Code, the penalties and sanctions for influence peddling in the Iberian Peninsula range from six months to two years in prison for the most severe cases.
It can also result in suspensions from official duties and economic fines ranging from the amount to double the benefit sought or obtained by those convicted.
Messi’s involvement
The Objective asserts that the Argentine was the most interested in keeping all these conversations absolutely confidential. The outlet indicates that the legal sources consulted describe a scheme that, if it had come to light in 2020, would have been “questioned from a legal and ethical standpoint.”
