Florentino Perez criticises Barcelona and La Liga officiating

When the Real Madrid president, Florentino Perez addressed the Assembly of Representative Members on Sunday, he launched a strong criticism of Barcelona and La Liga’s refereeing standards. Perez revisited the long-running Negreira case, highlighting that Barcelona had reportedly paid over €8 million across 17 years to the former vice president of the referees’ association, a period that aligned with some of the club’s most successful domestic campaigns.

He labelled the situation unacceptable and linked it to what he described as the poor overall quality of Spanish refereeing. Perez stressed that FIFA’s decision to exclude all 35 Spanish on field referees from its latest selections reflected badly on the league and strengthened his argument about declining standards. The Real Madrid chief also criticised La Liga’s attempt to stage Barcelona’s match against Villarreal in Miami, calling the idea abnormal and pointing out that even Barça captain Frenkie de Jong disagreed with the plan.