Due to a strike by the referees, Spain’s Primera Division of women’s soccer was not able to start playing on Saturday as planned. The opening game between Atletico Madrid and Real Sociedad had to be postponed because the officials didn’t show up. Players from both teams warmed up as usual in the Wanda Acala de Henares sports center and entered the pitch on time for kick-off. After a 30-minute wait, the meeting was then postponed.
During the week, the referees had announced in a statement from the RFEF association “under the current conditions of our professional and economic situation that they would not referee a game in the women’s Primera Division”. They called for higher wages and “working conditions approaching those of men’s premier league”. The women’s Primera División, which has now been given the name “Liga F”, will take place under fully professional conditions for the first time this season. Against this background, it was “unacceptable” that the profession of referee is the only one that falls by the wayside in a development that we consider fair and necessary. As long as their demands are not met, “not a single game” will be managed, the referees said.
The organizers of the professional league LPFF confirmed on Friday evening that all clubs should still travel to their games on the first day of the game and threatened the referee teams with sanctions if they did not show up.