This new spanish football war it has already started. And have to do it, curiously now Negreira case, with the referees. It differs from other wars in that it is easy to predict the outcome. Because the claim that the refereeing agency of Javier Tebas and the majority of LaLiga clubs came under the organic umbrella of the RFEF contradicts the Spanish Sports Law and FIFA Regulations head-to-head. These rules do not prevent referees from administering by arbitration. “commercial society” It is independent, as Thebes claimed on Thursday, but they say they can only do so if the incumbent federation allows it. And it’s such a thing Luis Rubiales won’t. I am not kidding. This is his full right.

They say it all starts in LaLiga a widespread and growing discontent of clubsThose who think that the service they receive from the Technical Arbitrators Board, an organization affiliated to RFEF, is not sufficient. In fact, at the meeting held on Thursday, the clubs were asked whether the service in question was suitable for the bill they paid, without giving their names. And 71% of them, about 30 of them, thought they weren’t.

arbitration cost

During his presentation, the LaLiga president showed 42 club representatives how much the Technical Referee Board’s service cost for the competition as a whole. According to data provided by Thebes to which it has access SPANISH NEWSPAPERFrom the Prensa Ibérica group, the arbitration draft for the season 2022/23 combining the First and Second, €34,913,478. So rounding up, almost 35 million.

This amount is divided into several parts. Referees and assistants receive a total of 21.73 million, 62% of the total. LaLiga is also responsible for its contributions. Social Securityamount rose to 2.38 million. The other major item from the arbitration activity alone during the matches is the travel expenses of the referees, for which the CTA has billed 4.1 million this season.

In addition, LaLiga costs VAR of 5.67 million who paid less than one million euros for other items: 698,812 euros for courses, seminars and training; €113,628 to finance the structure of the CTA; and 170.442 Euros for working capital.

referee salary

Tebas also showed the clubs a breakdown of the sums received by Primera referees compared to those in Europe’s other four major leagues. According to the information shown in the assembly, A Spanish referee receives a fixed salary of 167,904 euros per year.To this we must add the pay per game: 4,830 for the field referee, 2,415 for the VAR and 1,065 for the AVAR.

LaLiga’s total account Each Spanish referee pockets an average of €264,504 per year For their work in the field, not including their VAR performance, which is highly variable depending on the category and experience of each. According to the information shown in the extraordinary assembly, which is always held on Thursday, it is a much higher invoice than the invoice they receive in other competitions.

England, Italy and Germany don’t all earn the same, they have pay scales depending on their seniority or whether they have the FIFA badge. Referring to the upper scale in each case, the data processed by LaLiga is as follows: Premier referee pockets 159,708 euros per year; One of the A 170,000 Series; and one from the Bundesliga, 194,000. Those in the French Ligue 1 receive 142,208 fees.

amounts of Spanish competition, ‘professional arbitration agreement’ It was signed by LaLiga and RFEF, Tebas and Rubiales in 2018 and remains valid until the end of this season. A contract whose content is not publicly available “because it is subject to a confidentiality clause” as reflected on the employer’s website.

referee’s statement

The deal in question needs to be renewed this summer, and there’s a fuss about it. Thebes denied on Thursday that any desire to lower the referees’ bill or salary was on the table, and this was confirmed, without exception, by the clubs this newspaper consulted. Since they also provide No campaign organized by LaLiga discrediting referees or raising tensions. But the RFEF believes it, and so did the referees who supported it (without specific signatures) last Wednesday. a statement denouncing a “perfectly measured and organized campaign”.

At the beginning of the week, there was even the possibility of the referees going on strike. We are tired of the statements and statements made by the clubs about their performance in the last period., as well as those of LaLiga. In this sense, they censored a video of Luis Gil, the competitions director, on behalf of the employer. “to draw attention to and ridicule acts of arbitrationIt is another example of La Liga’s interest in creating an air of suffocation towards our collective, casting doubt on our decisions and undermining arbitration professionalism.”

club survey

“LaLiga has nothing to do with controlling the referees,” Tebas insisted on Thursday, defending himself once again. a model such as British or German, but in the latter the German federation continues to hold the majority (51%) of control. “We don’t want to pay less, it’s good for us that Spanish referees are the highest paid referees, but they are necessary.” service improvements, assignments need to be more transparent and errors need to be reduced, there is for that. And that reading is too generalized”, summarized in the League One club.

According to this Data released by LaLiga this Friday88% of clubs support the establishment of an arbitration model similar to that of the Premier or Bundesliga, and 61% believe that the majority union AFE should be involved in decision-making processes.

There was no question whether the money paid was excessive. Not questioned, they all say. They just want better service than they say they get. The war has just begun.