Explained: Why La Liga does not have goalline technology following Barcelona vs Real Madrid controversy

Concerns are being raised about La Liga’s choice to omit goal-line technology following a disputed moment during last night’s El Clasico between Real Madrid and Barcelona.

During the 28th minute of the game, Lamine Yamal redirected a corner kick from Raphinha towards the goal. 

It appeared that the ball had crossed the line entirely before Real Madrid goalkeeper Andriy Lunin managed to deflect it away. The Barcelona players protested, claiming the ball had crossed the line, but the referees were unsure.

The decision eventually went to the Video Assistant Referee (VAR). After reviewing the incident for over two minutes, VAR determined that the ball had not completely crossed the goal line.

Why La Liga does not have goal-line technology?

According to Mundo Deportivo, La Liga has indicated that the use of this technology is minimal and does not justify the significant investment it requires. 

In order to apply it in La Liga, it requires having a FIFA license that costs more than €2 million for the 380 matches that the Spanish First Division has per season.

Implementing the technology in the Spanish Second Division would further increase expenses significantly, potentially more than doubling them to over €4 million for the 420 games in the competition. 

Barcelona were denied a clear goal against Real Madrid last night. (Photo by THOMAS COEX/AFP via Getty Images)

Additionally, stadiums would need to be adapted with the installation of 14 new cameras for proper usage, which is a challenge since only a few stadiums currently have this capability.

The only instance of this technology being used in Spanish football was during the Spanish Super Cup held in 2020 in Saudi Arabia.

In that event, the RFEF employed the technology for all three matches, but it has not been used since due to the high costs involved.

Tebas does not want to comment

Meanwhile, Javier Tebas, the president of La Liga, quickly addressed concerns about the absence of a certain technology that is present in the Premier League and the Champions League. 

Instead of explaining why the technology was missing, Tebas took the opportunity to emphasize that it was not perfect.

In his response, Tebas simply wrote, “No comments…” and included news articles highlighting mistakes made by the goalline technology in other leagues such as Serie A, Bundesliga, and the Premier League.