An unknown at the head of football referees

SabadellA 45-year-old lawyer based in Vigo will be responsible for football referees after the Spanish Football Federation Rafael Louzán dismissed the refereeing leadership headed by Luis Medina Cantalejo and Carlos Cloz Gómez a few days ago. Fran Soto Balirac, who has never refereed in Spanish professional football, will be the new president of the Technical Committee of Referees (CTA), a group that is at the center of attention whenever the football ball rolls and which Florentino Pérez has fought to turn in his interests for years.

Soto leaves behind a career spanning more than twenty years as a lawyer, which led him to become a partner at the Garrigues firm. He holds a law degree and specializes in corporate tax advice (including some listed on the BME), which has led him to advise companies and athletes on issues related to his specialization.

Better known to his colleagues as Balirac (his second surname), he takes on the position purely out of a vocation for refereeing and not out of financial motivation, as his professional role brings him more benefits than leading the CTA. He has begun "a new era" by distancing himself from the committee's and Negreira's recent past and dodging the question regarding the controversial Real Madrid TV videos. He does not want to be at the center of controversy and has even deleted his personal X account before taking office.

Combining his professional activity, Soto developed his refereeing vocation as a football referee between 2002 and 2015 in the Third Autonomous Division, Second Autonomous Division, First Autonomous Division and Preferred Division (8 seasons), as an assistant in 2nd B Division, and in grassroots football. This passion for refereeing led him to serve as a member of the governing board of the Galician Football Referees Committee and to assume the position of delegate on the same committee in 2015 and subsequently from 2020 until assuming his new position as president of the RFEF's CTA.

Soto claims to be "steeped in grassroots and amateur football," which allows him to have a broad view of the community. Referees who have shared time with him describe him as a "tireless worker who prioritizes teamwork over authoritarianism," and also as "a great colleague who is always willing to lend a hand."

Aside from thanking his predecessors for their work, Soto also gave a nod to his new subordinates, categorically stating that "Spanish referees are the best in the world and have a stratospheric level." He has firsthand knowledge of all the incidents the referees have endured under Medina's tenure and wanted to mark a turning point in distancing himself from the previous government: "I will fight with whoever it takes to defend you," he said. A declaration of intent that seeks to reach out to a mistreated community that has been forced to create its own association to protect its interests.

AI, key to the new refereeing

Fran Soto knows where the national refereeing system is at its weakest and promised a system that rewards "meritocracy, independence, transparency, objectivity, and uniformity of criteria."

The most notable aspect is the application of artificial intelligence to "try to objectify all possible parameters." This area will be led by a manager who will work to ensure that technology can influence the appointments and evaluation system for referees. This is certainly a complicated task given that refereeing performances are often assessed from a very subjective perspective and that virtues such as match management, credibility, trust, and authority are difficult to gauge.

Furthermore, Soto has created a committee to unify criteria, which will also include former players and coaches. The goal is for the debate on how to decide plays to be held not only internally, but also for the football world to offer its perspective, although in the final analysis, it will be the refereeing professionals who will make the final decision. The first issues to be discussed will be the criteria regarding handball and the use of VAR. Regarding video refereeing, the Galician lawyer has ruled out the possibility of non-referees being part of the VAR room.

The organizational chart will also include a head of institutional relations. A position that will be filled by a former referee who will address the media and act as a liaison between the group and the president. This figure will have a representative role and will have no influence on decision-making within the CTA.