LALIGA
Who is José María Sánchez Martínez, the referee selected to oversee Saturday’s El Clásico?
The Spanish FA’s Referee Committee has appointed the 41-year-old Murcia native for Saturday’s Real Madrid-Barcelona game.
The Spanish FA’s Referee Committee has opted for experience in selecting José María Sánchez Martínez as match referee for Saturday’s Real Madrid vs FC Barcelona clash at the Bernabeu.
The 41-year-old from Murcia has plenty of experience in overseeing high profile games, having worked at international level as well as refereed six El Clásico contests in the past.
The man from Murcia is a serious referee, not given to protests and has worked in the Spanish top flight since making his debut back in 2025.
This will be the seventh Clásico that the official will referee during his career and to date his games in charge have seen an even split with both Madrid and Barça winning three times. The first game was in the return leg of the Spanish Super Cup in 2017, held at the Bernabéu and culminating in a 2-0 victory for Real Madrid.
The next three games under Sanchez Martinez went the way of the Catalan side: a 0-3 Barcelona win in the 2017-18 LaLiga season; 5-1 in the 18-19 season, also in LaLiga, and 0-3 in the return leg of the Copa del Rey semi-finals. On the last two occasions, under his supervision, also in LaLiga, Real Madrid ended up winning: 1-2 in the 21-22 season and 3-1 in the 22-23 season.
Under the watchful eye of Real Madrid TV
Sánchez Martínez is a referee that Real Madrid TV are not too fond of with the club’s television network known to micro analyse each and every decision that feel that fails to go their way.
Last season after the Madrid derby, the channel asked the question: “Will he be able to sleep tonight?” adding that “Real Madrid is still top of the table despite the refereeing” with the network feeling that the club were denied three ‘clear’ penalties.
Despite the pressure of the watchful eye of RMTV, Sanchez Martinez is highly regarded at the Spanish FA and is also being called upon by UEFA more and more often to officiate continental club and international games as well.
With the eyes of the world watching, the 41-year-old faces a big test in one of the most eagerly awaited Clásico games in recent times.