He Bolivian football is on a warpath with the referees of the highland country, extremely indignant and furious with the Bolivian Football Federation… and one of the parties involved in the breakdown are Chilean referees.
It turns out that last Tuesday the FBF announced that the final of the Bolivian championship between Universitario de Vinto and San Antonio Bulo Bulo would be directed by referees Chileans, specifically, the judge John Lara and the linemen Juan Serrano and Alejandro Molina. The event caused surprise in highland football.
Although the Chilean referees had a good job in the first leg, with a 2-1 victory for San Antonio Bulo Bulo, the correct performance of Lara and company does not dilute the anger of the local referees.
While waiting for the rematch, the Bolivian Association of Soccer Referees issued a statement in which it describes the events as a “serious offense” and threatens to go on strike if the situation is repeated.
The statement from the Bolivian referees
“The referees of the Bolivian Association of Soccer Referees (ABAF), meeting in emergency on Tuesday night, make known the following following the determination of the leadership of the Bolivian Soccer Federation, to hire referees from Chile for the finals of the Apertura 2024 tournament,” the statement says.
They add that “we declare ourselves in a state of emergency in the face of the serious offense to the Bolivian referee, without considering the technical and human capacity of our affiliates, widely demonstrated in the different matches that we referee in classics, matches in the final phase of the different tournaments and matches of Conmebol tournaments in all phases to date (Copa Libertadores and Sudamericana). Having the presence of a Bolivian shortlist in the last FIFA U-17 World Cup.”
“We request the president of the Bolivian Football Federation, Fernando Costas, for a meeting as soon as possible so that he can know our point of view and the reality that we Bolivian referees are going through,” they add.
The ABAF states that “if we do not have an affirmative response to our request, the Bolivian referees would go on strike and we will not appear at the matches scheduled by the Bolivian Football Federation.”
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