The referee Estrada Fernández denounces that he was forced to exercise VAR in a van

Estrada Fernández, who accompanies a photograph of the van in his public complaint, assures that this situation occurred on Saturday, March 20, when he worked as VAR in he match between Getafe and Elche of the 36th day of LaLiga. From the Technical Committee of Referees they have avoided making statements.

“The RFEF’s decision was made in response to the claim made by Mr. Xavier Estrada Fernández and involved carrying out his task apart from the rest of his colleagues, in a van located in the RFEF parking lot, in retaliation for the filing of the claim made and with the pretense of humiliating him in front of his peers“, denounces the referee in a note sent to the media.

In the RFEF there are 12 VOR rooms

In the Soccer City of Las Rozas of the RFEF there are 12 VOR rooms, more than enough in normal days to meet the needs of First and Second. That Saturday, however, they coincided in a space of five hours four matches in the First Division and nine in the Second Division. That is, there were no rooms available for everyone. And, according to Estrada’s complaint, it was he who was the victim of this unusual ‘overbooking’.

In the league it is totally unusual for VAR to be applied from a vanalthough it is common in other competitions such as the Europa League and the Conference League or in some international competitions.

Estrada Fernández denounced the Negreira case

It must be remembered that Estrada Fernández was the only arbitrator who decided to break the unity of the arbitration group in the Negreira case, denouncing the former vice president of the referees before the courts for receiving millionaire payments from FC Barcelona. Shortly after it became known that this would be his last season as a VAR referee and that he would appear on the ERC lists for the Lleida City Council, managing to be elected in the sunday election.

Estrada is one of the seven referees who will not continue to be active next season by decision of the CTA president, Luis Medina Cantalejo, and who have decided to take legal action for the termination of this contractual relationship. The other six referees in conflict with the RFEF are David Medié Jiménez, José Luis González González, Ignacio Iglesias Villanueva, David Pérez Pallas, Daniel Ocón Arraiz and Víctor Areces Franco.

The Vinicius case

The Catalan referee also denounces in his press release that “the RFEF has misrepresented public opinion by linking the separation of the VAR of Estrada Fernández and six other referees, with the Vinicius case.”

Likewise, Estrada denounces that the seven referees in conflict with the RFEF have been removed from their duties in the last two days of the First Division, after a conciliation act that ended without an agreement on May 17.