Fran Soto Appointed as New Head of Referees

Luis Medina Cantalejo now has a successor at the helm of Spanish referees. Francisco Soto has been appointed as the new president of the Technical Committee of Referees of the Spanish Football Federation (FEF) as of this Wednesday. The announcement was made by the federation's president, Rafael Louzán, under the motto "Demand, Transparency, and Respect." Soto was previously working at Garrigues with extensive experience in corporate tax advisory.

Francisco Soto Balirac (born in Vigo, 1980) is married and has a daughter. He was a referee and is a delegate of the Galician Committee of Football Referees. The new president of the Technical Committee of Referees leaves behind a career spanning over twenty years as a lawyer, having reached the position of partner at the law firm Garrigues. Soto holds a degree in Law and specializes in corporate tax advisory, having advised companies and athletes on matters related to his expertise.

A member of the Spanish Association of Tax Advisors (AEDAF), he has been a professor in the dual degree of Law and Business Administration at the University of Vigo. Additionally, he has taught at institutions such as IESIDE and various master's programs in taxation, tax law, and financial management. He has also been a regular speaker at different courses and seminars on tax law, including those organized by the Spanish Association of Tax Advisors (AEDAF), the Association for the Progress of Management (APD), the Chamber of Commerce, the College of Economists, the College of Administrative Managers, the Circle of Entrepreneurs, the Confederation of Employers of Galicia, and various business associations.

Balancing his professional activities, Fran Soto pursued his passion for refereeing as a football referee between 2002 and 2015 in Third Regional, Second Regional, First Regional, and Preferential (for eight seasons), as an assistant in Second Division B, and in youth football. His passion for refereeing led him to serve as a board member of the Galician Committee of Football Referees and to take on the role of delegate in the same committee in 2015, and later from 2020 until assuming his new position as President of the CTA of the FEF.