The Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) and LaLiga announced today a formal agreement governing the public broadcast of the audio and video from conversations between the on-field referee and the VAR referee during the instant reviews displayed on the stadium monitor. The arrangement makes this content available to audiences at the end of each competition day, starting from January 10, 2024, across both the Spanish Super Cup and the LaLiga television signal. This move is designed to bring more clarity to officiating decisions and to enhance the overall match experience for fans in Spain, and it is positioned as a key step in transparency around refereeing processes.
The public access plan will take effect from matchday 20 of LaLiga EA Sports and matchday 22 of LaLiga EA Sports. The upcoming LaLiga Hypermotion match, scheduled for January 12 to 15, will feature this new format. It will debut in the Spanish Super Cup, organized by the RFEF, with the semi-finals on January 10 and 11, and the final set for Sunday, January 14. The initiative aims to give fans a clearer sense of how decisions are reached during reviews, while maintaining the flow and competitiveness of the competition.
In summary, RFEF and LaLiga have agreed to publish the conversations between referees and the VAR team during the game review process, providing a window into the review sequence as it happens. The project is designed to begin on January 10, 2024, aligning with the start of the Super Cup coverage and with the LaLiga broadcast schedule for the period. This development is viewed as a milestone for fans who want deeper insight into officiating in Spain’s top-tier football competitions.
The announcement emphasizes a new era of cooperation between RFEF and the European Union in terms of arbitration governance for professional football and major tournaments. It underscores a commitment to transparency and accountability within the sport’s refereeing framework, with the aim of making refereeing decisions easier to understand for viewers across stadiums and homes alike. This approach is intended to reduce ambiguity for spectators and to support referees by ensuring their decision-making process is open to public scrutiny, whenever appropriate within the broadcast environment.
Officials highlighted that the broadcast will show a consolidated feed capturing the audio and video of the review once per day of competition, on Saturdays, Sundays, and Mondays. The intention is to enrich the fan experience and help supporters grasp refereeing decisions more clearly, contributing to an overall improvement in the quality and perception of competition across the league and cup formats.