Breaking Territoriality in Referee Assignments: A New Era for Spanish Football

As reported by El Partidazo de la COPE, the derby match between R.C.D. Espanyol and F.C. Barcelona will be officiated by Catalan referee Víctor García Verdura. This decision, which will be officially announced later in the morning, reinforces a key initiative from the new Referee Committee led by Fran Soto: to eliminate territorial bias in referee assignments.

This marks the fourth instance this season where a field referee from a different region has been assigned to a match. The Málaga-Córdoba game in Matchday 13 of LaLiga Hypermotion was officiated by Manuel Orellana Cid from Seville; José Luis Munuera Montero from Jaén officiated the Sevilla-Betis match, and García Verdura will oversee the Catalan derby. Additionally, on Friday, Madrid-based referee Miguel Ángel Ortiz Arias will officiate the derby between Rayo Vallecano and Getafe.

The move to eliminate territorial bias in officiating extends beyond field referees to VAR officials as well. The first to break this norm in the VAR context was Madrid’s Carlos del Cerro Grande, who served as the VAR referee for the Atlético de Madrid vs. Real Madrid match on September 29.