Criticising and insulting football referees is a right protected by freedom of speech, but suggesting officials are corrupt or criminal goes too far, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled on Tuesday.
The court, based in Strasbourg, was ruling on a series of cases brought by Porto football club and two of its former officials.
The cases concerned a series of punishments imposed by the Portuguese football authorities and courts for attacks made by media outlets owned by Porto, calling into question named referees and the refereeing system as a whole, following matches involving, in particular, bitter rival Benfica.
The European Court rejected the Porto position in the majority of cases which involved “accusations of corruption and match manipulation”.
“Mere refereeing errors or irregularities, even if they are numerous or repeated over time, do not constitute, on their own, sufficient evidence of the existence of the scheme alleged by the applicants,” said the judgement. “Therefore, such speculative connections or assumptions were made by the applicants and conveyed to the wider public without a minimal factual basis.”
