Successive arbitral scandals have led RFEF to Cesar the entire directive of the Referee Technical Committee (CTA). Beyond Medina Cantalejo, who was the president, also highlights the dismissal of Carlos Clos Gómezthe head of the VAR. Or rather, the man who has destroyed the implementation of VAR in Spain. Dolphin of Negreira, was Under the focus since details about the investigation began to be discoveredbeing the member of the arbitration dome who has splashed the greatest scandal of our football to date.
Beyond that Clos Gómez It was one of Barcelona's favorites, since they only lost a game with him, during his active stage he was one of the most animated in Real Madrid. Although everything broke out when the reports appeared in which Negreira's son, Javier Enriquez, recommended Barcelona “That players and technicians say goodbye to him publicly” because it was “good for the image of the club” and where he claimed that the Aragonese would seek to “look good with the club and the players.”
It was not the only thing that directly related to him slave. Clos Gómez took over the VAR project in 2017, a year before its implementation. Already in 2018, when Enríquez Negreira He left the CTA and Barcelona ceased his payments, sent a bureaux to the culé directive. In him he pointed out that He had “hand in the VAR” and could “help” the club again.
This message put in the center of the controversy the head of the video arbitration that, however, continued in its position until Thursday, when the RFEF, headed by Rafael Louzán, He has considered that the entire arbitration dome had to be dispensed with and undertake a comprehensive reform in the system.
From Negreira to the room of VAR attached
Another of the scandals that saw the light was the Revelation of a parallel vor room In Las Rozas that had direct communication with the rest, something strictly prohibited. Estrada Fernándezafter its complicated departure from the CTA, it revealed the existence of a room attached to the main ones that was not reflected in the statutes of the Federation, or in the VAR protocol, or in the labor contracts that the referees had. In fact, the clubs would be unaware of her.
There, the members of the arbitration dome now dismissed, would see the matches. «It is a room that has been used for several years by the committee. There are two rooms: a room of the VAR technicians and operators and an operating room, ”said Estrada at the time. “That there has been communication is clear, but they would have to be them (the CTA) who explain it”he finished.
There, the last two presidents of the CTA – Velasco Carballo and Medina Cantalejo–, Clos Gómez and Undiano Mallenco witnessed several matches, according to the former collegiate. From the CTA, Logically, they soon left the accusations. They “categorically” denied the words of Estrada and, although they recognized their existence, explained the use of this room as a reserve, in which there was “an extra arbitrator” whose function consisted of “replacing the VAR or AVAR in the event that there was a medical problem.”
Clos Gómez and the use of VAR
Now, the career of Clos Gómez In the Spanish VAR. He spent eight years at the head of the project, since before his implementation that arrived in 2018, being in charge of its development until the end of this season, the 2024-2025. This technology came to revolutionize football and seek greater justice, but in our country it has had an excess of prominence, being a tool questioned in many occasions.
Compared to European football, the OUR Spanish has been much more interventionist, with decisions of the most controversial and entering countless occasions in those gray plays in which I should not do it, as well as obviating clear play. It should also be noted that several of the referees who have been part of the team that has formed Clos Gómez for the VAR were descended collegiate and that, therefore, had no level to whistle in the category in which they were later in charge of this tool.
