A few hours after scoring the winning goal in Paris Saint-Germain’s victory over Olympique de Marseille in the Ligue 1, Neymar yesterday arrived in court in Spain to face a trial for alleged irregularities involving his transfer to Barcelona in 2013.
Neymar’s parents, former Barcelona president Sandro Rosell and representatives for the Spanish club and Brazilian team Santos are also set to appear in court after a complaint brought by Brazilian investment group DIS regarding the amount of the player’s transfer.
All defendants have denied wrongdoing.
Photo: AFP
The Brazil striker arrived at the court in Barcelona wearing sunglasses and a black suit and tie. Neymar’s father, who is also his agent, was among those arriving alongside the player.
The trial comes nearly a month before the World Cup opens on Nov. 20 in Qatar. It is expected to last until the end of the month.
On Sunday, Neymar scored his ninth French league goal of the season in first-half stoppage-time to lead PSG to a 1-0 win over Marseille in French soccer’s biggest game.
Neymar and the rest of the defendants have to be in court for the first day of the trial, but the player is only expected to testify on Friday.
Neymar and his father face corruption charges and a prison sentence of up to two years, which would not likely carry any prison time. They also face a fine of 10 million euros (US$9.75 million).
Rosell faces five years in prison for fraud and corruption charges, plus a fine of 10 million euros.
DIS was entitled to 40 percent of Neymar’s transfer, but said it received a smaller compensation because part of the transfer fee was concealed.
Prosecutors said those involved tried to hide the real amount of the transfer to pay a lower commission to the investment group.
The lawyers for the plaintiffs argue that DIS only received its due percentage from the 17 million euros that Barcelona and Santos initially announced as the transfer fee between the clubs, while the real cost was about 82 million euros.
An investigative judge in Spain has already said that the real cost was at least 83.3 million euros.
Neymar and his father previously appeared in court in Madrid a few years ago because of the accusations.
Neymar’s move from Santos also got Barcelona in trouble with Spain’s tax office.
In 2016, the Catalan club paid a fine of 5.5 million euros to settle a separate case brought by authorities.
In that settlement, the club acknowledged it had made “an error in the fiscal planning of the player’s transfer.”
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
The famously raucous Hong Kong Sevens are to start today in a big test for a shiny new stadium at the heart of a major US$3.85 billion sports park in the territory. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the premier event in Hong Kong’s sporting and social calendar goes off without a hitch at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. They hope to entice major European soccer teams to visit in the next few months, with reports in December last year saying that Liverpool were in talks about a pre-season tour. Coldplay are to perform there next month, all part of Hong Kong’s
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
BRING THE NOISE: Brazil’s Fonseca attracted a boisterous crowd that brought such dominant soccer-style energy the referee switched to Portuguese to ask for quiet Australia’s Alex de Minaur on Monday put an end to Brazilian talent Joao Fonseca’s challenge at the Miami Open, outlasting the 18-year-old 5-7, 7-5, 6-3 in an enthralling contest. Attendance on stadium court had been sparse throughout the day, but the Hard Rock Stadium turned into a mini-Maracana Stadium for Fonseca’s match, complete with Brazilian flags and soccer-style chanting. Fonseca brought his energetic brand of ultra-attacking tennis, but De Minaur was up to the challenge, coping with blistering forehands and a partisan crowd. Such was the dominance of Fonseca’s raucous support that the referee switched to Portuguese for his appeals for quiet. However, De
RSS