Real Madrid president Florentino Pérez and Barcelona have been officially summoned to appear in court in the latest chapter of their ongoing legal battle.

A Madrid court has ordered Barcelona and Perez to appear in front of a jury for a conciliatory hearing on Nov. 25. The audience is the next step in the legal process after Barcelona filed a lawsuit against Pérez for slander and defamation back in June.

“The purpose of this claim is for Mr. Pérez to retract certain statements that he made with knowledge of their falsity and which are slanderous and offensive to the image and reputation of the Club,” Barcelona said in a statement when the lawsuit was filed.

Barcelona’s objective with this hearing is to demand Pérez to retract said statements. If Pérez doesn’t retract his statements or doesn’t show up to the conciliatory hearing, Barcelona are expected to move ahead with a criminal complaint against the Real Madrid president.

What Florentino Pérez Said to Prompt Barcelona Lawsuit

Pérez held a bizarre, extraordinary and now infamous impromptu press conference back in early May where he touched on a variety of subjects. Of course, the Negreira case—allegations that Barcelona spent €8.4 million (£7.3 million, $9.7 million) from 2001 to 2018 in bribes to Spain’s former refereeing committee vice president José María Enríquez Negreira to get favorable decisions on the pitch—was one of the main topics of Pérez’s tirade.

“Three years ago, we learned about a corruption case like the Negreira case,” Pérez said to the press. “There is no precedent in the history of world football. It is the greatest scandal in history and a case that remains unresolved and is still ongoing. It’s incomprehensible that we’re still seeing referees from that era in a competition like the league.

“It lasted two decades of payments. They are the same referees, and we are preparing an important dossier that we will immediately present to UEFA to address and resolve the Negreira case for the good of world football.”

Pérez added: “I’ve been here for I don’t know how many seasons and I’ve only won seven Champions Leagues and seven La Liga titles, which should be 14 because they’ve stolen them from us.”

Barcelona immediately threatened the possibility of taking legal action against Pérez following his fiery press conference. Once Pérez won Real Madrid’s presidential election early in the summer, he fulfilled his promise and filed a dossier with UEFA looking to strip the Catalans of their Champions League titles won during the period of the Negreira allegations.

Less than a week later, Barcelona filed the slander and defamation lawsuit against Pérez.

Barcelona’s Stance on Pérez’s Allegations

Barcelona have long held that the payments related to the Negreira case were simply made to receive refereeing reports and advice, vehemently denying any corruption allegations.

After Pérez’s comments, Barcelona vice president and then acting president Rafael Yuste was quick to react and fired back at the “pathetic” comments made by Real Madrid’s president.

“The words of Florentino seemed pathetic and full of false claims,” Yuste said. “This maneuver by Florentino Pérez to cover up a sporting disaster that has lasted for two years will lead him nowhere. It’s a smoke screen to try to justify poor sporting management.”

When the 2025–26 season ended, Yuste went after Pérez again and confirmed Barcelona’s plans to file a lawsuit.

“We will take legal action against Florentino for resorting to slander to destabilize us,” Yuste stated. “The Madrid president has not digested Barça's successes. It's one thing to be jealous and another to be enraged.”

“It’s one thing to defend yourself with pride and another to go behind the back doing certain things,” Yuste added. “You really think he can threaten us saying he’s going to send a 5000-page dossier to UEFA? I don’t know what this this man is thinking.”

“Our badge can’t be touched. Barça’s name won’t be smeared by anyone. So we will see each other in court,” Yuste concluded.

Pérez Receives Surprise Support From Former Rival

The ever-controversial Pérez is in the eye of the storm again, and Real Madrid are reeling after a painful defeat to Atlético Madrid that saw them go six points back of La Liga leaders Barcelona seven games into the season.

It’s been far from an ideal start of 2026–27 campaign for Los Blancos, but Pérez’s adversary in clubs recent presidential election, Enrique Riquelme, has called for all Madridistas to become a united front. This comes after reports stated Pérez was angered by him attending the Madrid derby prior to the international break.

“I’ve repeated this many times,” Riquelme told COPE. “The elections are over and now we all have to be as one, and all of Madridismo, more so during this time, must be united. No turbulence or unnecessary noise.”

“We have to be together as one, and that’s how it’s going to be from my end,” he added, before describing what Barcelona did in the Negreira case as “a catastrophe.”

Barcelona host Real Madrid at the Camp Nou on Oct. 25 for the first El Clásico of the season. Exactly one month later, the second El Clásico of the term has been scheduled to play out in a Madrid courtroom, as the legal battle between Barça and Los Blancos' president heats up.