Munuera Montero: "My family is suffering the most, my parents don't deserve this"

Referee José Luis Munuera Montero remains under scrutiny. The Andalusian referee will not officiate matches or be in the VOR room next weekend, as he is under suspicion and investigation by the FEF for a potential conflict of interest between his refereeing career and business ventures, allegedly linked to a company with commercial ties to institutions and clubs. Munuera shared a lengthy statement on Tuesday night in response to the reports, explaining the company's operations and asserting that it "has not invoiced any amount from a sports entity."

"In recent months, the excessive attack on the refereeing community has become evident, with me being the protagonist this time," begins a statement from the referee who faced death threats after officiating the Osasuna-Real Madrid match. From the second paragraph, he focuses on explaining the company's operations, which he was allegedly listed as 'founder' on LinkedIn. "The company Talentus Sports Speakers, in which referee José Luis Munuera is involved, has not invoiced any amount to any sports entity since its inception, whether clubs, federations, or companies in the sports industry," he emphasizes about a company created "less than a year ago" with the aim of "allowing different athletes to convey the transversal values of sport to various organizations."

He further adds that "the LinkedIn portal Talentus Sports Recruitment aims to add value to potential attendees of the talks by showcasing numerous job offers." Before concluding, the referee reiterates in his statement that this activity "has been carried out in all cases without any compensation from companies, clubs, or organizations" and threatens legal action.

Hours later, he sought to provide explanations on the program 'El Partidazo' on Cope, stating that "we are very calm and want to refute the amount of slander that has been said today." Additionally, the Andalusian referee acknowledged that "in my life, no sports entity has ever paid me a penny, never, ever," and revealed that "tomorrow (Wednesday) I will send the FEF the invoices for the conferences I have held. Zero euros, zero ties with any entity."

Munuera Montero did want to denounce that "there are other types of interests that we have been suffering for months. Today it was my turn, but how long has the committee been suffering these attacks?" He also revealed that "they are vilifying my nephews, they are breaking my nine siblings, my 80-year-old father went to mass today and... I better keep quiet. What are we creating? How can we show in a newspaper the atrocities we are saying? Are we crazy? Do we control violence or promote it? This is getting out of hand. What kind of sport are we creating with football?"

The referee recounted how he experienced Tuesday after the complaint of a possible conflict of interest became known: "It was a busy day, when I saw the news, I was the first to call the RFEF and put myself in their hands to tackle all this nonsense and lies that have been spread. We've been used to it for months... I have been an active and direct part in clarifying which company I run." Despite everything experienced, he remains calm and reaffirms: "We are very calm, eager to clarify things and refute the slanders and falsehoods that have been spread today. When I saw the news, I said 'this can't be.' I called the FEF, and the first person who spread false information about me will be pursued. It's already in my lawyer's office."

In his participation in the program, he acknowledged that "I have been giving lectures for many years. I try to convey the values of refereeing to young people. Since I have been doing it for a long time, I thought of starting a company. I have been doing it for a year, and other athletes and I give lectures to companies of all kinds." He also clarified that "as an extra service, and that's where all the fuss came from, we provide a free service on LinkedIn to the people who attend these conferences, with no financial or contact ties, to create a database with job offers generated by sports, basketball, tennis, football... so that young people who have completed a postgraduate degree in sports have a reference site to view these job offers. End of story. There's nothing more."

Munuera Montero revealed that he has received support from the Federation and its president: "Louzán called me to show his support." "Hopefully, what needs to come out will come out soon. There's nothing. I've been giving lectures for years, and I started the company for the future, as I have little time left in refereeing. We've been doing it for less than a year, I've given four or five lectures, and that's it, there's nothing more. I convey the values of refereeing to young people. That's my only intention," he insisted in his defense.

In some media outlets, it was reported on Tuesday that the referee has a mural of Messi in his house, something Munuera Montero denied. "The Messi mural? I don't live there, and I don't have the office there. That's the fiscal headquarters of another company that the partner shares." "There's nothing strange. I have nothing to hide, everything is clarified, and the news will come out that everything is explained. Anyone can form a legitimate and transparent society with the people they consider, what's the problem?" he noted.

The Andalusian referee confirmed receiving insults on social media after officiating in Pamplona and "before I received a hundred thousand messages of death threats or insults again, I silenced the LinkedIn account so that it wouldn't happen again." "I'm not afraid," he said, although he clarified that he silenced the messages "for my protection and that of my family. They are in a terrible state, very worried. They haven't asked me to quit because they know that's impossible." "My parents don't deserve this," he added.

Regarding the refereeing in Pamplona, he acknowledged that "I haven't given any thought to Saturday's events. I'm not going to go there. People shouldn't believe everything they read. We need to try to help. I released the statement because I couldn't take it anymore. You walk down the street... but where do we want to go?" Munuera, however, wanted to send a message to the football world in defense of referees. "Let them look at us with the same respect as clubs, players, and coaches," he asked. "We are professionals like no other, we have worked very hard in many categories, it took me twenty years to reach the top division. What we want to do is dignify refereeing, work so that there are no mistakes, get along as best as possible with the clubs, so that the criteria are understood better and better, so that we all go in the same direction. We ask for respect," he concluded.

Finally, he wanted to normalize mistakes in refereeing because "we are professionals who have families, who want the best for football and don't want to make mistakes. As long as Munuera Montero is on the field or in the VAR, he will continue to make mistakes." "If people thought that with VAR the mistakes would end, they were wrong," he noted, because "as long as we are human, we will continue to make mistakes, let that be clear. We didn't implement VAR, the teams did."

He did not want to comment on his absence in the next league match, which seems to be a clear punishment for his performance at El Sadar. "I'm not officiating this weekend. There are twenty referees, ten matches each round. I officiated last week, so I wasn't supposed to this week." "I am the first to have wanted to step forward and step aside until this is clarified, I understand that I am not given a match," he concluded.