Spanish champions, Barcelona have lodged a formal complaint with the country’s football federation, criticising what they see as inconsistent refereeing, SuperSport reports.
The move comes after the Catalan giants’ frustration over a controversially disallowed goal during their 4-0 Copa del Rey loss to Atletico Madrid on Thursday.
In a letter sent to both the RFEF and Spain’s refereeing committee, Barca demanded greater transparency in officiating.
In a statement, the club said the letter reflects “deep concern over repeated refereeing decisions it considers detrimental (to the club) and lacking a consistent standard.”
Highlighting what they describe as “the existence of disparate decisions responding to actions of identical nature,” Barcelona argued that such inconsistencies create a “double standard.”
The club also claimed there has been a “pattern of flagrant refereeing errors throughout the season,” many of which have set them back, and which “directly affects the integrity of the competition and fuels growing mistrust.”
Barcelona called for clearer guidelines on the use of VAR, requesting “a clearer criteria for when referees are called to review actions,” and also asked for “the full publication of all VAR audio.”
This season, several other Spanish clubs have voiced complaints about refereeing, while Real Madrid have frequently criticised officials via their television channel over the past two seasons.
In February 2025, Real Madrid even published an open letter accusing Spanish refereeing of being “rigged” and “completely discredited” following a surprise defeat at Espanyol.
Barcelona are also under investigation by Spanish authorities in a sports corruption case related to payments of seven million euros ($8.3 million) to former CTA vice-president Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira over several years. The club deny any wrongdoing.
