FC Porto, getty images 05 November 2025, 23:30

FC Porto issued a scathing official statement, published on the club’s website, in which they expressed their outrage at the work of the referees in matches of the Portuguese championship.

“From our point of view, serious problems persist in refereeing in Portugal, such as double standards, lack of uniformity in decisions and constant influence on referees before and after matches by direct and indirect participants,” the club said in a statement.

Porto stressed that “season after season, attempts to gloss over important incidents that directly affect results continue.”

As an example, the club cited several episodes with controversial refereeing decisions in matches of its competitors. In particular, the “dragons” drew attention to the moment with the rough foul of Ukrainian Benfica midfielder Heorhiy Sudakov in the game against Vitoria, for which he received only a yellow card.