Agreement reached with referees, Liga F will resume this weekend

An agreement between the RFEF (representing the referees), LPFF, and CSD has been reached after a whirlwind week of negotiations and the threat of another matchday being postponed.

The referees have accepted a proposal by the CSD, which will last for six years. Per David Menayo of MARCA:

• 25,000 euros per year for the head referees (1,666 per match).
• 16,000 euros for the assistant referees (1,066 per match).
• 3,750 euros for the fourth referees (250 per match).

It seems that the CSD’s additional offer of 350,000 euros per year (for three years) — which will make up an individual mutual fund that the referees will be able to access once their careers are over — was key to unblocking negotiations.

The RFEF has also committed to contributing 350,000 euros to the LPFF during the first three seasons, which will be allocated entirely to the clubs to deal with arbitration costs.

There was real fear that the parties involved were at an impasse and that there would be another cancellation of games. However, with this development, the “strike” has finally ended, which should allow Liga F to go forward this weekend.

Real Madrid are set to play Valencia on September 17 at 4 pm local time.

UPDATE

Liga F has released an official statement on the matter.

Full translation:

Liga F notes that the refereeing group has finally accepted the proposal put forward by this League, for which the professional women’s football competition will resume next weekend after the embarrassing episode of matchday 1, which should never have been allowed.

From the first moment, and especially after the meetings last Monday and Tuesday, it has been clear, with the government as a witness, that Liga F has shown with deeds, not with words, its willingness to reach an agreement. Yesterday afternoon, the Liga F added to its initial offer an improvement for the assistant referees, in such a way that their emoluments per game, and with respect to what the RFEF paid them, would be the following:

- Main referee: going from 300 to 1,666 euros per game

- Assistant referees: going from 166 to 1,066 euros per game

- Fourth referee: going from 84 to 250 euros per game

It should not be forgotten that the proposal from the RFEF and the referees started — did not end — with a referee salary of 21,000 euros per match, intending to make it similar to the salary for the Second Men’s Division, LaLiga Smartbank, a competition that generates around 150 million euros per year for television rights. This would have meant a refereeing expense of 5 million euros per season for Liga F and its clubs, that is, 70% of the audiovisual income generated by the competition would go to refereeing expenses.

Faced with this position that is far removed not only from the reality of women’s football, but also from the socioeconomic context that the country is going through, Liga F has always been firm in its defense of a project that is sustainable over time and that, above all, respects the work and effort of so many people who fought for this project.

As much as some would like to believe, professionalization is not a key that opens a chest of money. Professionalization brings the possibility that women’s football can be managed independently by those who truly believe in it, thus providing the necessary tools to make it grow.

The union and firmness of clubs, footballers, coaches, fans, and public opinion has managed to make the refereeing group come to their senses. THANK YOU.