Announcement comes after Madrid defender Dean Huijsen was sent off after 32 minutes against Real Sociedad
Real Madrid are preparing to send a formal report to Fifa describing the problems with refereeing in Spanish football.
The club confirmed the move through Real Madrid TV on Saturday, shortly after their 2-1 win at Real Sociedad. According to the media channel, the report will cover incidents from the opening four weeks of this season as well as examples from last year.
“Real Madrid is preparing a report with everything that has happened in these first four rounds of La Liga and what happened last season,” said the announcement.
“The dossier is going to be submitted to Fifa so that they take good note of what is happening in Spanish football with regard to refereeing.”
The announcement comes after Madrid defender Dean Huijsen was sent off after 32 minutes against Real Sociedad for pulling down Mikel Oyarzabal as the forward ran through on goal.
Both Huijsen and head coach Xabi Alonso vociferously protested the decision on the pitch, before Alonso commented after the match saying he “wasn’t convinced” by the referee’s explanation. Madrid feel the punishment should have been a yellow because Eder Militao was close enough to Oyarazabal to cover the goal.
The announcement also follows repeated criticism of referees by the club in the past, often through the same media channel Real Madrid TV.
Before last season’s Copa del Rey final against Barcelona, referee Ricardo de Burgos Bengoetxea cried in a press conference as he described the effect of Madrid TV’s criticism on him and his family.
The channel had published a video compilation of what it claimed were his errors in previous Madrid matches just days before the final.
The club’s decision to escalate the matter to Fifa can only increase the mistrust between Madrid and Spanish football’s governing bodies. The Spanish federation (RFEF) and La Liga have repeatedly pushed back against the club’s claims.
Earlier this year, La Liga president Javier Tebas said: “Real Madrid are against everyone. They are hurting the competition. They make a story of victimhood that is not so.”
Referees’ associations have also criticised the media pressure created by the club’s official channel. Chief of Spain’s Technical Committee of Referees (CTA), Luis Medina Cantalejo, bitterly criticised Madrid, saying that “no other team, in any sport in the world, does anything like this”.
