Spanish FA calls meeting to address refereeing issues, Real Madrid to not attend

New York Times

05-02-2025

The Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) has called an extraordinary meeting of La Liga and Segunda Division teams to address recent refereeing issues — but Real Madrid will not attend.
The RFEF is set to meet with representatives from clubs, La Liga and Spain's technical committee of referees (CTA) on Thursday to discuss refereeing issues, new competition formats and financial distribution of the federations income.
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The meeting was called a number of weeks ago and Madrid initially communicated their intention to be present. However, following their criticism of the refereeing decisions during Saturday's loss to Espanyol, they have since informed the RFEF that they will not attend.
Madrid have frequently been critical of the standard of refereeing in Spain. The club filed a formal complaint to the RFEF and Spanish government's High Sports Council (CSD) after the weekend's 1-0 loss to Espanyol, asking for the 'immediate submission of VAR audio' in relation to two officiating decisions during the defeat.
The complaint followed referee Alejandro Muniz Ruiz's decision to not send off Espanyol defender Carlos Romero for a 60th-minute challenge on Kylian Mbappe, plus Vinicius Junior's disallowed goal in the 21st minute after there was deemed to be a foul by Mbappe in the build up. The video assistant referee (VAR) Javier Iglesias Villanueva did not intervene on either decision, and Romero went on to score the game's winning goal.
The complaint read: 'The events that took place in this match have exceeded any margin of human error or refereeing interpretation. What happened at the RCDE Stadium represents the culmination of a completely discredited refereeing system, in which the decisions against Real Madrid have reached a level of manipulation and adulteration of the competition that can no longer be ignored.'
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It concluded: 'The scandal generated by this match has once again had worldwide repercussions, with the international press denouncing the biased use of VAR in Spain and the lack of credibility of Spanish refereeing.'
An RFEF statement read: 'We deeply regret the tone and seriousness of the accusations that question the honourability of the refereeing bodies and the functioning of the competition as a whole.
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'The refereeing task, by its very nature, is subject to review and analysis, but this cannot lead to generalised accusations that cast doubt on their integrity, as this not only affects the referees themselves, but also erodes the credibility of soccer as a whole.'
Madrid were also critical of the officials in the immediate aftermath of the game; first, on their television channel — where they called for the departure of Rafael Louzan, the president of the RFEF, who was elected in December — and then in the post-match report they published on their website.
Madrid's club television channel is regularly a platform where refereeing in Spain is criticised. In March 2024, the RFEF opened an investigation into Madrid after a complaint by Sevilla over a video aired by the club's television channel which aimed criticism at and alleged bias by two referees set to officiate the La Liga fixture between the two sides.
The tensions have been heightened by the ongoing Negreira case, which involves Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira, the former vice-president of Spanish football's refereeing committee who owned a company that was paid a total of €7.3million (£6.4m; $7.8m) by Barcelona between 2001 and 2018. Barcelona have denied any wrongdoing.
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(Manaure Quintero/AFP via Getty Images)