RFEF Dismisses VAR Head and Spanish Referees Committee Chairman

The Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) has taken decisive action by dismissing Luis Medina Cantalejo as Technical Committee of Referees (CTA) Chairman and Carlos Clos Gómez as VAR head.

This decision is part of a referee system renewal effort — involving representatives from the refereeing community, professional clubs, and the Federation. RFEF emphasizes that this move aims to create a more modern and efficient model.

Real Madrid has been one of the most vocal clubs criticizing referee decisions, even filing a formal complaint to RFEF and High Sports Council (CSD) — alleging manipulation in competition following their loss to Espanyol.

During his tenure, Medina Cantalejo led the investigation of the Negreira case — a scandal involving Barcelona with alleged payments of over 7 million euros to José María Enríquez Negreira’s companies during the 2001-2018 period.

RFEF is scheduled to announce the new Technical Committee of Referees structure in early July.