Barcelona have been charged with corruption over payments made to a former referee official. The Spanish giants face charges of corruption unexplained payments to the head of Spain’s refereeing committee for 17 years.

The Catalans are said to have syphoned more than £6 million to a company owned by Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira, who served as the committee’s vice-president between 1994 and 2018.

The payments were allegedly made between 2001 and 2018, including the four-year spell they were coached by Pep Guardiola, although there are no suggestions the Manchester City boss was aware of the agreement.

The club allegedly paid over €7.3 million (£6.4 million) to Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira, who was the vice-president of Spain’s referees’ body.

A Barcelona court heard on Friday that Barca, former club officials and Negreira had been indicted for corruption, breach of trust and false business records.

Prosecutors claim that Barcelona had a secret agreement with Negreira that ensured favourable decisions for the club in La Liga games and other competitions.

Spanish LaLiga chief Javier Tebas turned the matter over to state prosecutors because the alleged payments were outside his competition’s statute of limitations. Now Barca, former presidents Josep Maria Bartomeu and Sandro Rosell and Negreira have all been hit with official corruption charges. Last week Tebas said current Barca president Joan Laporta would have to resign if the charges were proven.

He added, “It doesn’t matter if it’s Barcelona or anybody else – this is about the reputation of LaLiga. We are acting on the criminality side of this with the Spanish government. Barcelona have to explain a lot about those payments.”

Club chief Laporta has denied any impropriety. Laporta insisted, “Let it be clear. Barca have never bought referees and Barca have never had the intention of buying referees – absolutely never.”

Real Madrid have responded to Barcelona’s charges by calling for an urgent board meeting to determine their response. The reigning La Liga champions’ board will meet at noon on Sunday to decide on their next steps.

“FC Barcelona obtained and maintained a strictly confidential verbal agreement with Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira so that, in his capacity as vice-president of the technical arbitral committee (CTA) and in exchange for money, the latter carries out actions tending to benefit FC Barcelona in decisions by the referees,” said the public prosecutor’s office.

Barcelona denied any wrongdoing in a statement last month and claimed the money was in exchange for external consultancy that supplied them with “technical reports related to professional refereeing”.

The La Liga giants added that it was a “common practice among professional football clubs”, but La Liga chief executive Javier Tebas said Barcelona president Joan Laporta should resign if he was unable to explain the payments.

Speaking earlier this week, Laporta said, “Let it be clear Barca have never bought referees and Barca have never had the intention of buying referees, absolutely never.”

Despite Barcelona’s stance, 18 of the 20 La Liga clubs have expressed “deep concern” over the allegations.

Barcelona boss Xavi, who won eight La Liga titles at the Nou Camp between 1998 and 2015, said he had no knowledge of the payments and would have left if he thought his team had an unfair advantage.

“I always wanted to win, but fairly,” the Spain legend said. “If I thought we were cheating I’d have gone home.”

Barcelona are currently nine points clear of second-placed Real Madrid at the top of La Liga. Xavi’s side were knocked out of the Europa League last month by Manchester United.

• A Tell / Metro / The Sun report