– Since the introduction of VAR in Spanish football in the 2018/2019 season, video refereeing has been handled by Mediapro. Its top representative (referring to Jaume Roures – editor’s note), according to various media, has direct ties with a La Liga club – FC Barcelona.

– Mediapro will continue to manage the VAR system’s feed until 2028 after renewing its agreement with the Spanish Football Federation. As pointed out by the newspaper El Español, the federation entrusted Mediapro with VAR operations until 2028, while the group’s CEO sits on the board of directors of Barça Studios, a subsidiary responsible for Barcelona’s audiovisual services.

– In recent seasons, the Catalan club has relied on guarantees and the sale of assets to register new players. Among the guarantors is the head of Mediapro. Barcelona sold 24.5% of Barça Studios to a partner and co-founder of Mediapro, which – as El País wrote – accelerated revenues so that new signings could be registered (the so-called “fourth financial lever”).

– According to Mundo Deportivo, the founders of Mediapro joined the board of directors of Bridgeburg Invest, the company through which the club’s digital assets business is being developed. Meanwhile, as Cinco Días reminded, Orpheus Media provided guarantees for FC Barcelona’s management.

– El Español emphasizes that the compliance department (Cumplimiento Normativo), headed by Javier Puyol, should have analyzed the conflict of interest arising from the Mediapro CEO’s presence on the board of the Barça Studios subsidiary. After the events at Vallecas, with a VAR system failure that allegedly favored Barcelona, OK Diario recalled these ties between Mediapro – the VAR operator – and the club and its executives.

– In summary: according to numerous publications, the company operating VAR in the Spanish league has interests directly linking it to FC Barcelona.