Tarragona's Nàstic becomes first football club to press criminal charges against referee

Tarragona's Nàstic football club has become the first football club in Spain to file a criminal complaint against a referee.

On Tuesday, La Vanguardia newspaper reported that detective agency Método 3 has gathered evidence suggesting that referee Eder Mallo Fernández intentionally acted against the Tarragona team during a crucial match in June.

The game was the return leg of a playoff against Málaga, with both teams fighting for a spot in Spain's second-highest division.

The match ended 2-2, securing Málaga's promotion to the Second Division after they won the first leg 2-1, in a highly controversial encounter.

The lawsuit now accuses the Asturian referee of document falsification and "predetermination and deliberate alteration of the match result."

According to the detective agency, they have proof that Mallo Fernández agreed to favor Málaga in exchange for a promotion to a higher category of referees.

After the match, Mallo Fernández was promoted and is now a Second Division referee with an annual salary of €100,000 - five times more than he was earning before the controversial match.

Another aspect of the lawsuit is that the referee claimed in the match report that he had received death threats from the club’s executives and feared for his safety as he left the pitch to the the locker room, requiring police escort.

However, the investigation has uncovered evidence suggesting that this was false, including a report from the Catalan police force, Mossos d'Esquadra, which confirmed that the referee’s physical integrity was never in danger “at any time.”

Additionally, the club has commissioned former Catalan First Division referee Xavier Estrada Fernández to analyze the match, identifying “more than thirteen blatant errors.”