According to the latest information from The Objective newspaper (Spain), the revealed messages show that Messi, Pique and two powerful figures discussed using UEFA funds to compensate for salary losses due to the pandemic. caused by the pandemic.
Not only The Objective, Lequipe – a prestigious French newspaper, or Diaro AS and Football Espana – two major Spanish newspapers also reported the incident with the headline “Messi, Pique, Rubiales and Ceferin are suspected.” suspected embezzlement”, “The reason Rubiales, Messi and Pique are accused of trying to divert UEFA funds in 2020″…
Accordingly, The Objective – a newspaper established in 2013 – accused that, for at least three months, then-Barcelona players Gerard Pique and Leo Messi, along with the former president of the Royal Western Football Federation, Spain (RFEF) Luis Rubiales – who is being investigated for a series of crimes, negotiated with UEFA president – Aleksander Ceferin to “distract” the European agency’s funds to compensate for salary reductions. of some Barca players during the pandemic.
The Objective said they had exclusive access to messages and recordings related to negotiations between Rubiales, Pique, Messi and UEFA president Ceferin on the use of UEFA funds to compensate for the loss. the salary cuts of players during the pandemic.
The source also said that the last exchange of information on this issue took place on June 15, 2020. During that conversation, Rubiales told Pique: “We need to continue discussing the issue of funds or at least take out 30 million euros (…) to give to you”.
According to documents released by this newspaper, in 2020, UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin held many video meetings with Gerard Pique, Lionel Messi and Luis Rubiales to develop a plan that would allow the redirection of UEFA funds to supporting players affected by the medical crisis at that time.
On April 11, 2020, Rubiales – then President of the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) – asked Ceferin if he had considered his financial proposal.
Former RFEF President Luis Rubiales has proposed that 4% of the revenue from television rights of all UEFA matches, previously distributed in a specific way to national associations, be restructured to Spend 50% of that amount to compensate Barca players whose salaries have decreased due to the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. This proposal clearly stipulates the application period until the player’s reduced salary, equivalent to about 50 million euros, can be fully compensated.
In addition, he also proposed a “four-way” conversation with Pique and Messi to discuss this issue. Ceferin agreed and held an online meeting the next day.
Rubiales continuously updated Pique on developments. This player then informed Messi – who was worried because he was not good at English. Finally, the “four-party” meeting took place at 6:45 p.m. on April 14 and lasted for about 1 hour.
After the online meeting between Ceferin, Rubiales, Pique and Messi, The Objecitve said there were many messages back and forth between the attendees.
On one hand, former Barcelona defender Gerard Pique wanted to send a WhatsApp message to the UEFA president to thank him for his commitment. On the other hand, Ceferin wrote to Rubiales addressing their request and assuring them that “next week” there would be an answer, so he suggested that they meet again.
Former RFEF president Luis Rubiales is accused of asking Gerard Pique and Lionel Messi to send UEFA president Ceferin a Barcelona shirt signed by both, as a thank you and with the aim of creating a positive impact. extremely negative about the response of the UEFA leader.
Through text messages, according to The Objective, Rubiales revealed to Pique that Ceferin had promised to make a proposal next week and seemed more “relaxed” when talking about Florentino Perez – Real Madrid president. According to Rubiales, Ceferin “said bad things” about Perez, and also hinted that he no longer liked Real Madrid but “prefered Barcelona”. The Objecitve believes that Rubiales sharing this information with Pique is a way to confirm that Ceferin will favor Barca more in negotiations on UEFA funds.
According to the last text message reported by The Objecitve, on June 15, 2020, Rubiales assured Pique: “Geri, we need to continue discussing your funds, or at least is to take our 30 million euros, from La Liga and AFE (Spanish Football Federation) to give to you.
The source charged that through the messages, striker Lionel Messi expressed his concerns “about the significant reduction of his million-dollar salary due to the Corona pandemic”, but also worried about keeping these negotiations secret, for fear that someone would know that UEFA and RFEF are improperly handling the players’ salaries, and “they could be negatively affected legally.” ethics and morality”.
In addition to the audio, WhatsApp messages between Luis Rubiales and Gerard Pique were also leaked, from April 2020, when the Spanish championship was suspended due to the Covid emergency. It is very likely that this information was taken from the phone of Luis Rubiales – who is being investigated for a series of corruption-related scandals, and had his cell phone confiscated when he arrived from the Dominican Republic. return to Spain.
If the recording about the negotiation to use UEFA funds between Rubiales, Pique, Messi and former UEFA President Ceferin revealed by The Objective is true, this will be shocking news for global football. It is difficult to accept that powerful figures in world football negotiate to use the funds of Europe’s largest organization like UEFA for personal purposes.
Currently, Luis Rubiales is about to stand trial for “sexual assault and rape” after his kiss with Jenni Hermoso at the 2023 Women’s WC final. Meanwhile, Lionel Messi is still playing for Inter Miami at the tournament. US MLS. As for Gerard Pique, the former player is leading his own Kings League project after retirement, both in Spain and Latin America. There has not yet been any official statement from related parties about this controversial recording.
