New sap to face a high-tension season
The CTA renews the First Division squad, seeks to regain weight in Europe and hardens the fight against time-wasting
SabadellThe new season in the Spanish League will begin with a significant shake-up in the refereeing establishment. The Technical Committee of Referees (CTA) has opted for new blood in a First Division squad that faces a predictably complicated season while still licking its wounds from last season. The arrival of José Mourinho at Real Madrid will further increase the pressure on a group that needs to regain credibility and international standing.
The refereeing directors ended up quite unhappy with the performance of the previous season and made drastic decisions, such as four relegations at once. José Luis Guzmán Mansilla and Iosu Galech Apezteguía return to Second Division despite being debutants in the elite, while internationals Guillermo Cuadra Fernández and Alejandro Muñiz Ruiz will not step on the pitch again and will join directly the specific VAR body. An unprecedented decision that sends an unequivocal message to the entire squad: no one has a guaranteed place.
Their places will be taken by the veteran Jon Ander González Esteban, 41 years old, and three referees who will rejuvenate the squad: Manuel Jesús Orellana Cid, 34 years old, Carlos Muñiz Muñoz, 30 years old, and Lluís Bestard Cervera, 32. The case of the Majorcan stands out especially because he has made the jump from First Federation to First Division in just two seasons.
A Catalan is the great hope
The regeneration is not only a matter of performance but also of the Committee's need to regain lost ground on the international stage. Jesús Gil Manzano, for years one of the great references, has lost the trust of European leaders. José María Sánchez Martínez was the favorite to go to the World Cup, but, against all odds, he missed what, due to his age, should have been his last World Cup train.
Alejandro Hernández Hernández was the only state main referee selected by FIFA and returned from the competition having officiated only one match out of the 104 played: Brazil-Haiti in the group stage. A minimal presence does not correspond to the prestige and dimension of the Spanish league.
And here appears one of the CTA's great hopes: the Catalan Víctor García Verdura. After an excellent season, he has been proposed to occupy a FIFA place and will be international from January 1, 2027. At 31 years old and with a long career ahead of him, the Maresme referee has room to climb UEFA categories and become, in the medium term, one of the relevant figures in European refereeing.
The trickery with the ball boys is over
The squad renewal will be accompanied by another statement of intent: to reduce unsportsmanlike conduct and increase effective playing time. The new regulations directly address time-wasting, with more control over substitutions, injuries, and game restarts.
A very visible change will be added to stadiums with these modifications. Ball boys will no longer be directly involved in handing the ball to players, with the aim of avoiding confrontations and also the slyness of speeding up or slowing down restarts according to the home team's interests. The plan is to distribute a dozen balls around the pitch so that the footballers themselves pick one up when they need it. The ball boys will be limited to restocking them while the game continues.