3 Dec 2008LFP expresses concern over La Liga corruption allegations

Football Leagues/ Association and Governance

The Spanish football authorities admitted on Monday (December 1st) that they are "very worried" with fresh allegations of corruption occurring in La Liga.

Spanish newspaper El Mundo published the transcript of a conversation between a player and a senior club figure, in which the former reportedly suggested that he had been offered a bribe to fix a match last season.

Responding to the news, Liga de Futbol Profesional (LFP) chief press officer Juan Carlos Santamaria expressed his concern about the limited powers available to the body to deal with the claims.

He said: "We're carrying out our own investigations even if we can't reveal anything because all this is very bad for the image of the game, the image of La Liga.

"In this case we have to wait and see but even if something concrete comes out of it we can do little at the moment. We are shaped and governed by the Spanish Football Federation. Our disciplinary committees depend on them."

Santamaria also explained that the LFP has had talks with the Ministry of Sport in which it proposed to create specific laws to deal with the threat of bribery and match-fixing.

Milan, Fiorentina, Lazio, Reggina and Juventus were all docked points in the wake of the 'calciopoli' corruption scandal which hit Italian football in 2006 and Juve were also relegated to Serie B.

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