The Working Group for the Reform of the Refereeing System is studying the use and implementation of technology to improve referees' performance

At the committee 's first meeting outside the Ciudad del Fútbol, the Working Group for the Reform of the Refereeing System held a meeting on Thursday afternoon at LaLiga's headquarters. In attendance were the president of the clubs' association and RFEF vice-president, Javier Tebas; the head of the Technical Committee of Referees, Luis Medina Cantalejo; the RFEF's general secretary, Álvaro de Miguel; as well as representatives of top-tier referees who are members of the working group, among other stakeholders.  

The meeting focused almost exclusively on presentations demonstrating how the use of technological tools for mass data collection and generative artificial intelligence can help improve referees' performance during matches and refine their decisions.  

The working group agreed on the significant potential of tools leveraging big data and generative AI, which will gradually improve over time.  

Additionally, the presentation included a proposal for referee selection and appointment criteria that would take into account their performance ratings throughout the season, their propensity for errors, rotation of referees among competing teams, regional considerations, match contexts, and the importance of the fixture in terms of league standings.  

The working group ultimately resolved to begin discussions in the coming days to establish a committee of experts, which will in the future determine the evaluation and analysis criteria to be applied to Spain's professional football referees.