Official: FC Barcelona charged with Corruption over payments to former referees chief | UEFA open investigation

[FreckBarca]

Some days ago, some news were published about Negreira's son influence:
As stated before Negreira's son, apart from working for Barca by making ref reports and driving the the refs to the Camp Nou, he also worked as a personal coach to La Liga refs.

This article gives examples of refs that hired him as a personal coach. One of them, Medié Jiménez, hired him in 2016. When the season ended he was promoted from second division to first division (something in which his father had influence). Many other current La Liga first division refs had Negreira's son as their personal coach.

According to this radio interview with Sergi Albert, a former La Liga referee:

--There was influence peddling in the ref evaluations (and therefore in the promotions and relegations) withing the ref committee.
--Most refs would pay Negreira's son under the table for his coaching.
--The current president of the Technical Committee of Referees, Medina Cantalejo, hired Negreira's son as his personal coach.
--The previous president of the Technical Committee of Referees, Velasco Carballo also hired Negreira's son as his coach.

According to this article Negreira's son made a report to Barca on Velasco Carballo's refereering, which included the following:

It would be best to take great care of the club's relationship with him. In addition to being a ref who will have to referee Barcelona in important matches, it is very possible that in a few years he will become the president of the Technical Committee of Referees

 

[GatoLoco]

Some days ago, some news were published about Negreira's son influence:
As stated before Negreira's son, apart from working for Barca by making ref reports and driving the the refs to the Camp Nou, he also worked as a personal coach to La Liga refs.

This article gives examples of refs that hired him as a personal coach. One of them, Medié Jiménez, hired him in 2016. When the season ended he was promoted from second division to first division (something in which his father had influence). Many other current La Liga first division refs had Negreira's son as their personal coach.

According to this radio interview with Sergi Albert, a former La Liga referee:

--the refs would pay under the table Negreira's son for his coaching.
--the current president of the Technical Committee of Referees, Medina Cantalejo, hired Negreira's son as his personal coach.
--the previous president of the Technical Committee of Referees, Velasco Carballo also hired Negreira's son as his coach.

According to this article Negreira's son made a report to Barca on Velasco Carballo's refereering, which included the following:

It would be best to take great care of the club's relationship with him. In addition to being a ref who will have to referee Barcelona in important matches, it is very possible that in a few years he will become the president of the Technical Committee of Referees

Medina Cantalejo was one of the people insisting that Negreira did not have any power in the Committee (now we know he did) and now it turns out he hired his son as coach. Very suspicious if you ask me.

 

[Don't Kill Bill]

Barcelona paid the vice president of referees 7 million euros, clandestine payments going back over decades. That is not in question or disputed by anyone? Let that sink in for a moment.

That is all that is needed to say they brought the game into disrepute and the referees neutrality and its institution into question.

Throw the book at them or give up being taken seriously as a league because what Barca did is undefendable and if you crossed out the name of the club and put any other name there the posters trying to evade this point would not be doing so.

No legal trick or time limit excuses the act and nor should it allow an escape from the consequences.

 

[NLunited]

Barcelona paid the vice president of referees 7 million euros, clandestine payments going back over decades. That is not in question or disputed by anyone? Let that sink in for a moment.

That is all that is needed to say they brought the game into disrepute and the referees neutrality and its institution into question.

Throw the book at them or give up being taken seriously as a league because what Barca did is undefendable and if you crossed out the name of the club and put any other name there the posters trying to evade this point would not be doing so.

No legal trick or time limit excuses the act and nor should it allow an escape from the consequences.

Exactly what many have been saying. If this is allowed to go lightly punished, the whole of LaLiga will be tainted for a half century.

Other teams have been relegated for less.

 

[FreckBarca]

Everything surrounding this case has an extraordinarily dark aspect to it:

The judge in charge of investigating the Negreira case was robbed at her home this weekend. The assault took place just a few hours after the Barcelona Prosecutor's Office filed its complaint against FC Barcelona last Friday for the payments to the former vice-president of the Technical Committee of Referees (CTA) José María Enríquez Negreira. According to what police sources have confirmed to El Confidencial, the support magistrate of the Court of Instruction number 1 of Barcelona went to report the facts this Sunday to a police station of the Mossos d'Esquadra. The robbery took place when the magistrate was inside her home, a ground floor house located in a municipality in the vicinity of Barcelona. Despite this, she did not suffer any personal injury or notice anything unusual. The intruders took cash, jewellery and different items. It is being investigated whether they also took documents or electronic devices on which the judge could keep files related to her work.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

https://www.elconfidencial.com/espa...ca-robo-casa-jueza-denuncia-fiscalia_3591848/

According to this article on March 23, some intruders tried to rob the house of Negreira in Barcelona.

 

[Bepi]

It’s interesting to see that Ceferin is now threatening Real Madrid as well, while taunting “the other two clubs who wanted to save football and are deeply involved with judicial problems at home”.

Mind, I am all for UEFAlona and UEFAdrid being hung to dry and yet this is just pure banditism from UEFA/Qatar, trying to kill the SuperLeague for good in order to preserve their own monopoly.

 

[NLunited]

It’s interesting to see that Ceferin is now threatening Real Madrid as well, while taunting “the other two clubs who wanted to save football and are deeply involved with judicial problems at home”.

Mind, I am all for UEFAlona and UEFAdrid being hung to dry and yet this is just pure banditism from UEFA/Qatar, trying to kill the SuperLeague for good in order to preserve their own monopoly.

Yep both clubs try to monopolize LaLiga, the Super League is just another step in that direction, dispensing with sporting challenge altogether.

Juventus is guilty of the same.

Taking competition out of sport in favour of commercial revenue is a dead end.

 

[Bepi]

Yep both clubs try to monopolize LaLiga, the Super League is just another step in that direction, dispensing with sporting challenge altogether.

Juventus is guilty of the same.

Taking competition out of sport in favour of commercial revenue is a dead end.

While this is a respectable position to represent, even if against the Bolkestein rule in the EU, Ceferin (the highest government) making use of tribunals (the sporting justice courts) to bat his opponents is just…….. fascist?

 

[Member 125398]

Juve taking an anti-fascist stance is an interesting development in the re-imagining of reality accross several threads in here

 

[FreckBarca]

While this is a respectable position to represent, even if against the Bolkestein rule in the EU, Ceferin (the highest government) making use of tribunals (the sporting justice courts) to bat his opponents is just…….. fascist?

If Ceferin did that it would be worrisome.

So far, though, UEFA has only started an investigation on Barca's irregular payments and has done nothing to Real...

I dislike Ceferin but "making use of tribunals (the sporting justice courts) to bat his opponents" is not what is happening whatsoever.

 

[Bepi]

If Ceferin did that it would be worrisome.

So far, though, UEFA has only started an investigation on Barca's irregular payments and has done nothing to Real...

I dislike Ceferin but "making use of tribunals (the sporting justice courts) to bat his opponents" is not what is happening whatsoever.

Today’s interview for a Slovenian outlet, summarised here:https://www.football-espana.net/202...xtremely-serious-barcelona-negreira-situation

Another, more detailed summary: https://pledgetimes.com/ceferin-on-...e-of-the-most-serious-situations-i-have-seen/ which I quote below:

“They are great clubs that encompass and represent much more than the movements of their managers. It is interesting to note that of the three clubs that claim to be the saviors of football, one is in criminal proceedings for fixing its balance sheet (Andrea Agnelli, owner of Juventus) and the other for transferring money to one of the leaders of the arbitration organization. We will see if the third party also has something, “launched the top leader of UEFA.
“The ego also plays a certain role in some of these people, and because of this, they still do something in this area, because over the years they have gotten used to everyone nodding to their purposes,” criticizes Ceferin. “

 

[Bepi]

Juve taking an anti-fascist stance is an interesting development in the re-imagining of reality accross several threads in here

Are you living a satisfying life under your rock? Good!

 

[Niemans]

https://www.google.com/amp/s/barcau...e-against-barcelona-in-the-negreira-case/amp/

 

[Pintu]

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[GatoLoco]

https://www.google.com/amp/s/barcau...e-against-barcelona-in-the-negreira-case/amp/

Why is it false evidence?

 

[Mr Pigeon]

https://www.google.com/amp/s/barcau...e-against-barcelona-in-the-negreira-case/amp/

I'll do your job for you since you're so thick, no need to thank me.

The article is based on this one;

The president of LaLiga, Javier Tebas, sent a letter to the Prosecutor's Office in the case about payments to the arbitration vice president, José María Enríquez Negreira, directly implicating two former presidents of Barça, Josep Maria Bartomeu and Sandro Rosell, in alleged crimes of unfair administration and misappropriation, based on a handwritten document of a deceased former director. The document was included in another different case, in the so-called Soule case that investigates the alleged diversion of funds from the Spanish Federation chaired by Ángel María Villar and in which the League appears as an accusation.

Tebas personally linked names or surnames that appeared in that document directly with the two former presidents and from this he deduced that they could be involved in operations with real estate and movements in "financial institutions and investment banks." The problem is that the family of the deceased manager, Josep Contreras, has clarified the true identity of the people mentioned in the document and that they have nothing to do with the former presidents of Barça, as has been published in Mundo Deportivo and La Vanguardia.

Thebes pointed to Rosell and Bartomeu with references that were actually about other people The document delivered to the prosecution on February 22, signed personally by Tebas, is not limited to providing the documentation and goes so far as to point out theories about who the names and surnames appearing in the Contreras manuscript refer to. The problem is that those theories and speculations did not coincide with reality. In fact, Contreras's references to Banca Mas Sarda or Banca Catalana, the first dissolved in 1989 and the second in 2000, already indicated that the preparation of the document was long before the arrival of Rosell and Bartomeu to the presidency of Barça.

The president of the League defends that he acts objectively and seems to distance himself from any hint of accusation. "Neither is this part speculative in any way, nor does this document imply the exercise of a specific accusation against anyone." Although he immediately points out that "we consider that the names and surnames entered in the handwritten note may coincide with the names and/or surnames of certain former FCB directors (...)

Next, it states that "with the name "Román" accompanied by the word "lawyer", a reference could be made to Román Gómez Ponti, former head of the legal services of the FCB (...) It is not possible to ignore that the last name " Rosell" coincides with that of the former FCB president between 2010 and 2014, just as the name "Josep Maria" coincides with that of the also former FCB president Josep Maria Bartomeu Floreta, who was the club's chief executive between 2014 and 2020." .

In reality, as the family of the deceased has clarified, the document was written decades ago and the names indicated by Thebes refer to Emilio Román, Contreras' lawyer; Ramon Rosell, accountant of his companies; and Josep María was an employee of Banca Catalana responsible for the accounts of the deceased in the entity.

So meanwhile, in the real world, Tebas thought he saw names associated with Barca and forwarded it to the proper authorities so they could be assessed, at which point new evidence from the deceased's family came to light.

Hardly a knock out blow, is it?

 

[GinobiliTheGOAT]

Given the seriousness of the information that appeared today, Monday, in which the president of LaLiga, Javier Tebas, is linked as an executor in the presentation of false evidence to the Prosecutor's Office to incriminate our Club, FC Barcelona wants to express its deep anger, indignation and tiredness.


For this reason, we urgently require the president of LaLiga to appear publicly to offer explanations, beyond the tweet sent early in the morning by Mr. Tebes, fleeing from study and with a threatening patina.


FC Barcelona, as President Joan Laporta has been saying in recent weeks, feels the victim of a media lynching for events that have never happened: Barça has never bought referees.


A handful of media and opinion leaders have participated in this harassment with more or less bad intentions, and with LaLiga behind the scenes fueling the fire against our Club, with contributions from its president that have only gone in one direction: trying to condemn us to public opinion before the facts are judged.


It is not the first time that the president of LaLiga uses all his media machinery to dynamite FC Barcelona but, apart from his usual nonsense, we could never have imagined that he had tried to incriminate our Club with false evidence.


The news published today by La Vanguardia is of a gravity that should alert all LaLiga clubs, for practices that do not have any fit in the functions that are attributed to the president of LaLiga.


Just for this fact, that of attributing functions that do not correspond to him, although also for dignity and respect for the presidency of LaLiga, Mr. Thebes should resign in his function. However, aware of his obsession with pursuing FC Barcelona and constantly showing his aversion and manifest antipathy towards our Club, we understand that the current president of LaLiga will persist in his behavior of continuing to harm our Club.



Tebas is an absolute clown.

 

[horsechoker]

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"it's more severe than that Chris, it's significant!"

 

[Mr Pigeon]

Given the seriousness of the information that appeared today, Monday, in which the president of LaLiga, Javier Tebas, is linked as an executor in the presentation of false evidence to the Prosecutor's Office to incriminate our Club, FC Barcelona wants to express its deep anger, indignation and tiredness.


For this reason, we urgently require the president of LaLiga to appear publicly to offer explanations, beyond the tweet sent early in the morning by Mr. Tebes, fleeing from study and with a threatening patina.


FC Barcelona, as President Joan Laporta has been saying in recent weeks, feels the victim of a media lynching for events that have never happened: Barça has never bought referees.


A handful of media and opinion leaders have participated in this harassment with more or less bad intentions, and with LaLiga behind the scenes fueling the fire against our Club, with contributions from its president that have only gone in one direction: trying to condemn us to public opinion before the facts are judged.


It is not the first time that the president of LaLiga uses all his media machinery to dynamite FC Barcelona but, apart from his usual nonsense, we could never have imagined that he had tried to incriminate our Club with false evidence.


The news published today by La Vanguardia is of a gravity that should alert all LaLiga clubs, for practices that do not have any fit in the functions that are attributed to the president of LaLiga.


Just for this fact, that of attributing functions that do not correspond to him, although also for dignity and respect for the presidency of LaLiga, Mr. Thebes should resign in his function. However, aware of his obsession with pursuing FC Barcelona and constantly showing his aversion and manifest antipathy towards our Club, we understand that the current president of LaLiga will persist in his behavior of continuing to harm our Club.



Tebas is an absolute clown.

Oh well that confirms it, then. Cancel the criminal proceedings. Every club should give up their fairest daughter and three cows to Barcelona as payment. Hopefully it heals their hearts after being bullied for so long by the worldwide footballing cartel.

Of course, there's the argument that the article they're moaning about says that Tebas sent evidence over that only became apparently false AFTER the fact when the family of those mentioned in the document clarified who the names were actually about. But I suppose that doesn't mean anything because the evidence has already been piling up in Barca's favour. Evidence such as "we didn't win eleven league titles in a row" and "Real Madrid are bumfaces waaarrgghhh."

 

[GatoLoco]

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The HEADLINE of @LaVanguardia is FALSE, we did NOT accuse anyone, the news itself corroborates it by pointing out what the document to the prosecutor's office said, "nor does this document imply any specific accusation against anyone".
Mr. Conde Godó keep a closer eye on your JOURNALISTS who slander .

 

[GinobiliTheGOAT]

Oh well that confirms it, then. Cancel the criminal proceedings. Every club should give up their fairest daughter and three cows to Barcelona as payment. Hopefully it heals their hearts after being bullied for so long by the worldwide footballing cartel.

Of course, there's the argument that the article they're moaning about says that Tebas sent evidence over that only became apparently false AFTER the fact when the family of those mentioned in the document clarified who the names were actually about. But I suppose that doesn't mean anything because the evidence has already been piling up in Barca's favour. Evidence such as "we didn't win eleven league titles in a row" and "Real Madrid are bumfaces waaarrgghhh."

When you're done being a clown and actually read what was posted let me know. I get that if it is something in favor of Barca you'll be blind to it. Tebas is desperate and so are you it seems

 

[Mr Pigeon]

When you're done being a clown and actually read what was posted let me know. I get that if it is something in favor of Barca you'll be blind to it. Tebas is desperate and so are you it seems

I'm not sure if you've even read the original article that this refers to but it's a nothing story. How it can be seen as anything other than "Tebas thought it looked dodgy but it turns out it didn't" is just plain daft. To claim he falsely submitted evidence is a lie.

 

[CampNou]

twitterid 1642741076464136194

The HEADLINE of @LaVanguardia is FALSE, we did NOT accuse anyone, the news itself corroborates it by pointing out what the document to the prosecutor's office said, "nor does this document imply any specific accusation against anyone".
Mr. Conde Godó keep a closer eye on your JOURNALISTS who slander .

Well, the news itself corroborates the opposite... they don't accuse... but they do. Because the present the paperwork and put names on those... names... "I'm not accusing anyone but..."

But that is not even the worst part (you can even defend that if you want...)

The main issue is that the knew it wasn't them. The documents they presented were decades old and they were mentioning banks that didn't exist literally decades before Rosell became president... so... why do you present that? why do you mention those names if you should know that it couldn't be them? At best, they were presented in bad faith.

I agree that this will have 0 effect in the Negreira's affair, but this is just another proof of the campaign Tebas has against FC Barcelona because CVC and Superliga. He is using and he will use all he can. He is even changing FFP rules at his will just to f*** Barca (as it has probably be mentioned in this board).

I'm not sure if you've even read the original article that this refers to but it's a nothing story. How it can be seen as anything other than "Tebas thought it looked dodgy but it turns out it didn't" is just plain daft. To claim he falsely submitted evidence is a lie.

Nope, the original documents clearly states that a decades old dated document, even mentioning banks that don't exist decades before Rosell, is trying to be linked to these (horrible) presidents and other members of the club with that.

Tebas and LaLiga should know that it was IMPOSSIBLE it was Rosell or Bartomeu. If they insist, it is because they have an agenda to create more noise, etc., because they should also know that this should be discarded, but it draws more attention to them, etc.

The Tebas-Barca war has been ongoing for a few years. It has nothing to do with Negreira anyway.

 

[GinobiliTheGOAT]

I'm not sure if you've even read the original article that this refers to but it's a nothing story.

Tebas is just throwing anything at the wall to see what sticks.

 

[Mr Pigeon]

Tebas is just throwing anything at the wall to see what sticks.

Oh absolutely, but that isn't a deliberate attempt to mislead the investigation like the article claims.

 

[FreckBarca]

So meanwhile, in the real world, Tebas thought he saw names associated with Barca and forwarded it to the proper authorities so they could be assessed, at which point new evidence from the deceased's family came to light.

It is simply a very skewed headline. Most newspapers publish skewed headlines all the time but it is also worth noting that Barça paid "La Vanguardia" some pretty good money under Bertomeu, as you can see un the imagen below

in any case, it is a good sign that all the alleged proofs are been checked and therefore accepted or discarded.

 

[Ragnar123]

Tebas is an absolutely pathetic human being with an anti barca/laporta agenda so strong, that he'd burn his own league to ash just to burn barca with it. Look where LaLiga was 10 years ago when he took over and look where it's now under his leadership.

 

[Mr Pigeon]

Well, the news itself corroborates the opposite... they don't accuse... but they do. Because the present the paperwork and put names on those... names... "I'm not accusing anyone but..."

But that is not even the worst part (you can even defend that if you want...)

The main issue is that the knew it wasn't them. The documents they presented were decades old and they were mentioning banks that didn't exist literally decades before Rosell became president... so... why do you present that? why do you mention those names if you should know that it couldn't be them? At best, they were presented in bad faith.

I agree that this will have 0 effect in the Negreira's affair, but this is just another proof of the campaign Tebas has against FC Barcelona because CVC and Superliga. He is using and he will use all he can. He is even changing FFP rules at his will just to f*** Barca (as it has probably be mentioned in this board).



Nope, the original documents clearly states that a decades old dated document, even mentioning banks that don't exist decades before Rosell, is trying to be linked to these (horrible) presidents and other members of the club with that.

Tebas and LaLiga should know that it was IMPOSSIBLE it was Rosell or Bartomeu. If they insist, it is because they have an agenda to create more noise, etc., because they should also know that this should be discarded, but it draws more attention to them, etc.

The Tebas-Barca war has been ongoing for a few years. It has nothing to do with Negreira anyway.

Isn't it a good thing then that his claims weren't just taken at face value, and were properly investigated?

 

[rimaldo]

Isn't it a good thing then that his claims weren't just taken at face value, and we're properly investigated?

this is just like that time people backed the wicked witch instead of snow white.

 

[RedDevil@84]

Messi returns just in time for Barcelona to get relegated to the lowest tier of

If Barca get Messi in, everyone will forget and forgive.

 

[FreckBarca]

Tebas is an absolutely pathetic human being

Agreed. Both he and Rubiales need to go

 

[Mr Pigeon]

this is just like that time people backed the wicked witch instead of snow white.

It is. Shame that we burned both of them but that's what we get for drinking all of those rum and Mr Muscle cocktails beforehand, eh?

 

[CampNou]

It is simply a very skewed headline. Most newspapers publish skewed headlines all the time but it is also worth noting that Barça paid "La Vanguardia" some pretty good money under Bertomeu, as you can see un the imagen below


in any case, it is a good sign that all the alleged proofs are been checked and therefore accepted or discarded.

Not like your informations... not biased at all...

Do you know Tebas has confirmed they did it, right?

Do you know that either Tebas knew it was wrong and he presented it anyway or he is dumb enough to find a relationship from those presidents with banks that stopped working decades before they got to be presidents, right?

So Tebas has CONFIRMED that LaVanguardia is TELLING THE TRUTH, but you try to defend it telling that Bartomau paid LV years ago... aham...

 

[CampNou]

Isn't it a good thing then that his claims weren't just taken at face value, and were properly investigated?

Of course.

I haven't said the opposite, I was just talking about Tebas intentions. This a separate issue from Negreira. Negreira "affair" is just a piece on the "global puzzle" between Tebas and Barca.

The Tax Authority and the Prosecutor has been investigating this (Negreira) for years.

I have said from the beginning that this has to be investigated until the end. I want to know where and when did the money go, and for what. Depending on that, decisions should be made (harsh if they need to be harsh). I hope the investigation is able to bring light to the case (although is not easy, I know it). And of course, I'm not going to trust random tweets from random people just because potato. This is an important case with very important potential consequences and many important people have interest on it, so it is difficult to trust more than the official things.

I have read many read in both directions, for example there are also some conspiracy theories about Tebas an other people wanting to sink Barca so convert it in a regular company, etc. Even if they look good for a movie, I'm not buying it without any proof aside from the constant Tebas hate, which I only think it is a matter or CVC-Superliga until it is proven to be false.

 

[FreckBarca]

Isn't it a good thing then that his claims weren't just taken at face value, and were properly investigated?

Exactly. Good that the truth is being revealed.

At first everyone thought the names were related to those Sandro and Rosell.
Interestingly at the time (only 10 days ago) La Vanguardia said this regarding this document:


Tebas clarifies that he doesnt want to speculate but there are names and surnames in the handwritten note that may coincide with certain former managers of FC Barcelona and the Federation.

The names that appear in Contreras' note are:
Román (supposedly Gómez Ponti, former head of the club's legal services); Rosell, (supposedly Sandro Rosell), Josep María (presumably Bartomeu) as well as Julio Molinaro, who was Arjona's lawyer and who was the administrator of the company that billed Barça.

 

[GatoLoco]

Exactly. Good that the truth is being revealed.

At first everyone thought the names were related to those Sandro and Rosell.
Interestingly at the time (only 10 days ago) La Vanguardia said this regarding this document:


Tebas clarifies that he doesnt want to speculate but there are names and surnames in the handwritten note that may coincide with certain former managers of FC Barcelona and the Federation.

The names that appear in Contreras' note are:
Román (supposedly Gómez Ponti, former head of the club's legal services); Rosell, (supposedly Sandro Rosell), Josep María (presumably Bartomeu) as well as Julio Molinaro, who was Arjona's lawyer and who was the administrator of the company that billed Barça.

Seriously, this sounds like a storm in a cup of tea to me. It's not Tebas function to determine anything. That process alone would take way more time than just a few weeks.

 

[Cloud7]

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While UEFA are very corrupt themselves, it was beyond comical that anyone actually bought that Real and Barcelona cared about saving football or creating an even playing field when it was obvious all they cared about was finding a way to be undisputed top dogs again.

 

[Cloud7]

Tebas is an absolutely pathetic human being with an anti barca/laporta agenda so strong, that he'd burn his own league to ash just to burn barca with it. Look where LaLiga was 10 years ago when he took over and look where it's now under his leadership.

Isn’t this more due to Real/Barca/Atletico being worse? Tebas didn’t tell the teams to not sign/promote better players or have better managers.

 

[WeePat]

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[Nicolarra90]

This is just a hoax. It's the only way la Liga found to be relevant this year.