FC Barcelona sent a formal complaint to the Royal Spanish Football Federation on Friday detailing what the club described as a systematic pattern of damaging refereeing decisions throughout the 2025-26 season. The letter, addressed to RFEF president Rafael Louzan, CTA president Fran Soto, the head of VAR, and the director of legal affairs, went far beyond the controversial 4-0 Copa del Rey semifinal defeat to Atletico Madrid that triggered it, cataloguing errors across multiple matches and demanding sweeping reforms including the full publication of all VAR audio recordings and the creation of a disciplinary code for referees. The complaint expressed deep concern over repeated decisions that the club considers damaging to the game and lacking consistent criteria.
The complaint was structured around five major categories of concern. The first addressed inconsistent disciplinary criteria, citing differing decisions in response to actions of identical nature, particularly regarding sanctions, which Barcelona said created a perception of double standards incompatible with the principles of fairness and legal certainty. The second category highlighted contradictory handball interpretations in the penalty area, even in matches officiated by the same referees. The third pointed to what Barcelona called an accumulation of significant errors throughout the season, many of them decisive and to the club's detriment. The fourth category questioned the proper application of VAR technology, especially in millimetre-level decisions lacking conclusive technical explanations, while also condemning the lack of transparency in managing VAR audio recordings. The fifth challenged the absence of clear criteria for when referees are called to review incidents on the pitch-side monitor.
The Atletico Madrid defeat provided the most explosive examples. Barcelona cited the failure to send off Giuliano Simeone for what former referee analyst Mr. Asubio categorized as serious foul play with danger to physical integrity after a dangerous tackle on Alejandro Balde in the 49th minute, where Simeone entered with his sole forward and his leg fully extended, impacting directly on Balde's ankle. VAR official Gonzalez Fuertes reviewed the incident for only seconds and did not call referee Martinez Munuera to the pitch-side monitor. Barcelona contrasted this with the swift red card shown to Eric Garcia later in the match. The club also highlighted the eight-minute VAR review of Pau Cubarsi's disallowed goal, during which the semi-automatic offside technology malfunctioned because the system could not model the digital player skeletons due to the high density of players in the image, forcing VAR referee Pablo Gonzalez to manually draw the offside lines from available footage.
Beyond the Atletico match, Barcelona referenced several other controversial incidents across the season. In the opening day goalless draw against Getafe, referee Soto Grado failed to award a penalty for a foul by Iglesias on Araujo in the 101st minute but then controversially sanctioned an involuntary handball by Gavi instead following VAR review. In the 2-2 draw at Betis, referee Muniz Muniz drew criticism for lacking the personality to impose justice by not sending off Chimy Avila for aggressive play. Barcelona also noted that the CTA itself had admitted ten refereeing errors across the season after reviewing 51 incidents, reinforcing the club's argument that the problem was structural rather than isolated. Captain Frenkie de Jong expressed the squad's frustration, stating he had seen the image later and it was clear there was no offside, adding that if the technology was not artificial intelligence, which one no longer realizes, then the disputed photo was a scandal because the evidence was very clear.
Barcelona made three concrete demands in the complaint: the full publication of all VAR audio recordings for every match regardless of whether a pitch-side review took place, which it called an essential measure for transparency and refereeing education; the creation of a specific disciplinary code for referees establishing public and transparent consequences for serious errors or negligence; and an urgent review of refereeing criteria to ensure uniformity in decisions, equality of treatment among clubs, and the credibility of competitions. The club stated that the complaint did not intend to question the professionalism of the refereeing body but rather called for systemic improvements. Spanish media noted the irony that Barcelona's move came roughly one year after Eric Garcia himself had mockingly dismissed a similar complaint filed by Real Madrid to the RFEF as the Three Kings' letter, a reference that multiple outlets highlighted as a radical shift in the club's public stance on refereeing grievances.
Comments