Spanish refereeing is set to take a new step towards expanding the use of AI technology in the 2026–2027 season, following the announcement by the Royal Spanish Football Federation and the Technical Refereeing Committee (CTA) that artificial intelligence will be introduced into the ‘Tiempo de Revisión’ (‘review time’) programme, with the aim of helping to select the most notable refereeing incidents worthy of analysis following each matchday.
The decision forms part of the Referees’ Committee’s drive to enhance transparency and education, and to explain refereeing decisions to fans, clubs, players and coaches, following the programme’s launch last season to review the most notable and controversial incidents and explain them from a technical and legal perspective.
AI selects the incidents… and the referees retain the final decision
According to the Spanish Football Federation, La Liga will be responsible for selecting the footage to be featured in the programme’s episodes using an AI-based system, which will identify the most significant incidents in each round.
Once the clips have been selected, they are passed to the Technical Referees’ Committee to carry out a technical analysis and explain the decision taken, based on the laws of the game and approved refereeing standards. According to the Spanish Football Federation, the new system aims to make the process of selecting incidents more objective, traceable and transparent.
However, AI will not become a new ‘referee’ on the pitch, as the chairman of the Spanish Referees’ Committee, Fran Soto, has confirmed that the technology will not make decisions regarding the validity of refereeing incidents, emphasising that the final decision will remain in the hands of qualified individuals.
The end of the expert panel era, the start of AI
The new system replaces the mechanism used last season, when a panel comprising former players and coaches selected the incidents worthy of featuring in the programme.
With the start of the new season, the primary selection task will pass to the AI-powered system, whilst the Referees’ Committee retains the right to add any other incident it deems to be of educational importance or to help clarify a rule of the game, without removing incidents selected by the automated system.
The change is not limited to the method of selecting incidents; the ‘Review Time’ programme itself will undergo visual enhancements, with the introduction of new graphics and audio-visual resources, aimed at presenting technical explanations in a clearer, faster and more engaging manner for the audience.
The programme covers the top flight, the second division and the women’s league
The programme will continue to cover refereeing decisions in La Liga, the second division and the women’s league (Liga F), whilst maintaining its primary objective of bringing referees’ decisions closer to the viewers and explaining how the laws of the game are applied in controversial situations.
This move comes as part of a broader initiative by the Spanish Referees’ Committee to utilise AI technology to enhance transparency and standardise criteria; it has also launched a digital guide called ‘CARD’, which explains criteria and refereeing situations through visual materials and clarifications of the rules.
As such, it does not appear that AI will replace Spanish referees; rather, it will become an additional tool within the analysis and review system, whilst the technical assessment and final decision will remain the prerogative of the human Referees’ Committee.
Featured image via the Canary
By Alaa Shamali
