# El Colegiado

> El Colegiado is an independent, neutral, non-commercial data platform on refereeing in Spain's Liga: 9,880 matches (2000-01 → 2025-26) and 80 referees, compared with bookmakers' odds. Published deviations are statistical; they prove nothing about any match or person.

Data updated on 3 October 2026. Language of this file: English.

## Key findings

- 0 notable referee × club deviations after correction for multiple testing, out of 1,325 pairs tested. [Negreira case](https://elcolegiado.com/studies/negreira-case/#verdicts)
- Barça against the control group, difference-in-differences of points − expected between the "during" and "after" periods: −0.111 per match (q = 0.27). [Negreira case](https://elcolegiado.com/studies/negreira-case/#statistiques)
- Compared with Real Madrid, the fouls and yellow-card balance moved notably after 2018 (q < 0.001 – 0.04): Barça's advantage shrank while Real Madrid's grew. This is not the case against the control group (q = 0.08 to 0.27). Playing style, VAR (2018-19) and the end of the payments coincide and cannot be separated. [Negreira case](https://elcolegiado.com/studies/negreira-case/#statistiques)
- Penalties per match, whole Liga: 0.290 → 0.364 with VAR (p = 0.001). [VAR in the Liga](https://elcolegiado.com/studies/var/)
- Odds calibration: deviation between actual and expected points from −1.3% to +1.8% depending on the season. [The odds as a benchmark](https://elcolegiado.com/studies/odds/)
- A referee × club pair has a median of 11 matches: only deviations of about ±1.57 points per match were detectable. [Methodology](https://elcolegiado.com/methodology/#puissance)

## Studies

- [Negreira case](https://elcolegiado.com/studies/negreira-case.md): What the numbers say about refereeing before, during and after the payments.
- [VAR in the Liga](https://elcolegiado.com/studies/var.md): Did the arrival of VAR change how Liga referees whistle?
- [The odds as a benchmark](https://elcolegiado.com/studies/odds.md): Why bookmakers' odds are a fair yardstick for results.
- [Studies](https://elcolegiado.com/studies.md): Three questions put to the data, each with its method and limitations.

## Data & downloads

- [Data](https://elcolegiado.com/data.md): All the site's tables in CSV, with their sources and licences.
- [For AI agents & developers](https://elcolegiado.com/developers.md): Files, dictionary, citation
- [matchs.json](https://elcolegiado.com/data/matchs.json): all matches, column-oriented (see the dictionary below)
- [matchs.csv](https://elcolegiado.com/data/csv/matchs.csv): One match per row: date, season, period, matchday, teams, score, referee, cards, penalties, fouls, corners, shots, odds, with the source of each group of variables.
- [arbitres.csv](https://elcolegiado.com/data/csv/arbitres.csv): Referees: identifier, full name, variants found (with source), colegio, region, seasons, number of matches.
- [arbitre_club.csv](https://elcolegiado.com/data/csv/arbitre_club.csv): Each referee × club pair: record, points and expected points, balances, p-values, q-values and verdicts.
- [designations.csv](https://elcolegiado.com/data/csv/designations.csv): Appointment frequency: observed and expected matches per referee × club pair, p, q and reading.
- [periodes.csv](https://elcolegiado.com/data/csv/periodes.csv): By club and period: points, expected points, raw and strength-adjusted measures with confidence intervals.
- [diff_in_diff.csv](https://elcolegiado.com/data/csv/diff_in_diff.csv): The study's differences-in-differences, bootstrap intervals, p and q.
- [var_tests.csv](https://elcolegiado.com/data/csv/var_tests.csv): Effect of VAR: Liga averages before and after, permutation p.
- [var_saisons.csv](https://elcolegiado.com/data/csv/var_saisons.csv): Liga averages per season (penalties, reds, yellows, fouls).
- [calibration_cotes_saison.csv](https://elcolegiado.com/data/csv/calibration_cotes_saison.csv): Odds calibration: actual and expected points across the whole Liga per season.

## Methodology

- [Methodology](https://elcolegiado.com/methodology.md): How every figure on the site is produced, and what it cannot tell us.
- [About](https://elcolegiado.com/about.md): Who makes El Colegiado, and on what principles.

## Directories

- [Referees](https://elcolegiado.com/referees/): Every referee identified in the database, with their activity season by season.
- [Clubs](https://elcolegiado.com/clubs/): Every club that has played in the Liga since 2000-01, with its statistics and referees.
- [Seasons](https://elcolegiado.com/seasons/): Champions, standings and averages for every Liga season.
- [Archives 1990-2000](https://elcolegiado.com/archives/): The ten Liga seasons before the main database, as descriptive data.

## Languages

- [English](https://elcolegiado.com/llms.txt)
- [Español](https://elcolegiado.com/es/llms.txt)
- [Français](https://elcolegiado.com/fr/llms.txt)

## Optional

- [sitemap.xml](https://elcolegiado.com/sitemap.xml): every indexable page, with its EN, ES and FR versions
- [llms-full.txt](https://elcolegiado.com/llms-full.txt): full text of the key pages (English)
- [Explorer](https://elcolegiado.com/explorer/): Filter the matches and compare results with what the odds predicted.
- [Corrections](https://elcolegiado.com/corrections/): Report incorrect data and follow the published corrections.