Spanish sports rights and production agency Mediapro has accused the country’s RFEF governing body for soccer of “covering up” a one-year extension for its current video assistant referee (VAR) services provider.
The RFEF announced on Monday (July 10) that it had canceled its invitation to tender process for finding a VAR services supplier for the next four seasons amid the federation’s ongoing legal dispute with Mediapro.
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The tender process had been launched in March for a contract running from 2023-24 through 2026-27, but it was suspended by the Madrid Commercial Court in April as a precautionary measure requested by Mediapro due to its contention that previous VAR services tenders by the RFEF had been anti-competitive.
In its announcement on Monday, the RFEF said it intended to launch a new invitation to tender for VAR supply rights in September covering the year-later four seasons from 2024-25 to 2027-28, with the possibility of that term being extended.
In the interim, it said that current contract holder Hawk-Eye, which was contentiously appointed for the 2019-20 to 2022-23 seasons, would continue to provide services for a further year.
MediaPro, however, has said in a statement today (July 13) that the RFEF “has unjustifiably delayed the issue of a new tender in order to extend the contract with the current supplier for another year.”
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By GlobalDataIt argued this jeopardizes the interests of Mediapro and said the governing body “has utilized this kind of chicanery to achieve what it intended from the first moment, which was to continue awarding Hawk-Eye the VAR services for the Spanish league.”
The agency has said the RFEF’s action has seriously damaged its rights, and it has pointed to VAR services contacts it has in place with the UEFA, FIFA, Conmebol, and Concacaf governing bodies as evidence of its credentials.
In concluding that “the RFEF has covertly awarded one more year of the contract” to Hawk-Eye, MediaPro asserted that it would “continue to defend its rights as it has been doing to date and fight against these unjustified discriminations by the RFEF which have been sanctioned on multiple occasions by the courts.”
