Transition to a Functional Council
The Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) has confirmed that Francisco Soto Palacios will succeed Luis Medina Cantalijuelo as the president of the Technical Committee of Referees. According to reports from Goal and Kooora, Soto is set to officially assume his duties at the start of the 2025/2026 sports season.
A central component of this transition is the abandonment of the previous board structure in favor of a “Functional Council.” This new organizational model is built around several specialized positions designed to address specific facets of modern officiating. The council will include a Technical Director, who will serve as the central figure in the committee’s operations, alongside officials responsible for institutional relations and Video Assistant Referee (VAR) technology.
The restructuring also expands the committee’s scope to include dedicated oversight for women’s football—noting its rapid development—as well as futsal and beach soccer. Most notably, the new framework introduces a specific role for artificial intelligence, tasked with utilizing the latest technological advancements to support refereeing efforts.
Integrating Artificial Intelligence
The decision to embed artificial intelligence into the officiating hierarchy marks a significant step toward data-driven oversight in Spanish football. However, the administration has been careful to define the boundaries of this technology. The integration of AI is intended to serve as a technical aid rather than a primary decision-maker.
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The artificial intelligence will be a supporting tool and not a replacement for humans, and the committee will work to unify refereeing standards in cooperation with former coaches and players without compromising the independence of the referees. Francisco Soto Palacios, President of the Technical Committee of Referees
By involving former coaches and players in the standardization process, the committee aims to ensure that technological implementation remains grounded in the practical realities of the game while maintaining the autonomy of active officials.
Leadership and the Legal Background of Francisco Soto Palacios
Soto brings a significant legal background to the leadership of the technical committee. As reported by Kooora, he is a prominent lawyer and a partner at the well-known law firm Garrigues, where he has specialized in tax consultancy for professional athletes and large corporations for over 20 years.
His appointment and the subsequent overhaul of the committee suggest an attempt to apply professionalized, structured management to the technical side of the sport. This move toward a specialized, role-based council is intended to modernize the committee’s response to the complexities of professional football.
Addressing the Culture of Refereeing Controversy
The move toward technological integration comes at a time when refereeing remains one of the most controversial elements of Spanish football. The debate often centers on the consistency of decisions and the impact of technologies like VAR.
The role of data and technology is already a fixture in public discourse regarding the league. For example, AI-driven analyses have been used to examine historical data, such as a 2013 study regarding card averages and penalty counts for clubs like Real Madrid and Barcelona, as well as reports on the frequency of goals disallowed by VAR. By formalizing a role for artificial intelligence, the RFEF appears to be addressing these long-standing debates by attempting to bring more technical precision and standardized oversight to the officiating process.
