Enrique Osses, president of the Refereeing Commission of the Costa Rican Football Federation, said on April 29 that referees are prepared for the upcoming semifinals and shared detailed statistics about video assistant referee (VAR) interventions in national football.
Osses explained that since he took office, each club receives a report on refereeing performance and controversial plays. He reported that there have been 321 matches using VAR technology, with a total of 1,872 actions reviewed. Of these reviews, VAR intervened in 144 situations, making correct decisions in 120 cases.
“Unfortunately we have to recognize that there have been 24 situations of refereeing errors that were not solved either by the field referee or by technology,” Osses said during a press conference. He presented data showing which clubs had more or fewer mistakes against them over the last three tournaments. Cartaginés was most affected with five errors against it, followed by Alajuelense with four and Pérez Zeledón and Santa Ana with three each. On the other hand, Saprissa, Cartaginés, and Alajuelense each benefited from four favorable mistakes.
Osses emphasized impartiality in VAR decisions: “The VAR intervenes evenly during the period we have covered for all teams; there is no trend or deliberate situation—only random events occurring during matches—but there is no situation favoring or harming any participating club.” He also stated that these twenty-four errors are officially recognized by the commission and mentioned publishing eighty-five videos explaining technical aspects as part of transparency efforts.
“We may agree or disagree with their decisions but nobody can say there is a marked tendency to harm any particular club deliberately,” Osses said. He added that referees make judgments based on technical considerations for each play reviewed.
In this tournament alone, ninety matches have been played so far; VAR has intervened forty-four times out of around six hundred plays reviewed. Of those interventions this season, thirty-eight were correct while six were acknowledged as mistakes without technical justification. “Those six do not have any technical basis so we had to recognize they were errors by the referee team,” Osses said.
Looking ahead to the Clausura Tournament semifinals in 2026, Osses expressed confidence: he assured that match officials are fully prepared.
