Controversial referee for São Paulo to officiate Vitória match | OneFootball

São Paulo already knows who will be the last referee to officiate its match this 2025 season, which will be played this Sunday (7), at 4 PM (Brasília time), against Vitória, for the 38th round of the Brasileirão, in Salvador.

The CBF announced in a public hearing held at its headquarters in Rio de Janeiro (RJ) this Thursday (5) that the controversial referee from Goiás, Wilton Pereira Sampaio, will officiate the Tricolor's match against the Bahian team away from home.

He will be assisted by Bruno Raphael Pires and Leone Carvalho Rocha, both also from Goiás. In charge of the VAR booth will be Rafael Traci from Santa Catarina.

As is customarily informed by the CBF, the selection of referees is determined by considering the stages of the competition, the importance and complexity of each match, and the qualification, physical conditioning, and technical performance of the referees.

Wilton has a history of controversies, not only with São Paulo, but with other teams that often justifiably complain about the gross errors of the referee from Goiás.

SHOW OF ERRORS AGAINST THE TRICOLOR

In Tricolor's matches, he has a terrible track record. Let's recall some. The last one was in September this year, in the 1-0 victory over Botafogo in the Brasileirão, where the referee infuriated the fans by not calling a foul for a severe stomp on the belly of defender Sabino.

In the 2nd half of the match, right-back Vitinho from the rival Carioca team contested the ball with Sabino and ended up stepping on the São Paulo player (watch below). Referee Wilton Pereira did not call anything, considering it an accidental play. Not even the VAR booth called for a review, which was a significant error according to former referee and now commentator PC Oliveira, who stated that the Tricolor was indeed wronged at home against Botafogo.

Previously, he made an error even acknowledged by the CBF, in a classic against Santos in the Brasileirão, where Sampaio did not call a penalty for the Tricolor in a clear play with Alves being brought down in the area.

“The technical opinion of the International Committee is that there was a penalty in the mentioned play. The Santos goalkeeper hits the opponent's leg before touching the ball. From the referee's angle of view, and considering that in the end, the goalkeeper maintains possession of the ball, it is very difficult to have the necessary certainty to call the maximum penalty. The foul is only clear from the camera angle behind the goal,” said the CBF committee.

The report also points out the need for a yellow card penalty for the Santos goalkeeper for the committed penalty.

“Disciplinarily, the play is for a yellow card because, despite preventing a clear goal opportunity, the foul was committed in the context of a ball dispute and, therefore, the sanction is reduced from a red card to a yellow card,” evaluated the Commission.

Watch the uncalled penalty play on Alves:

In the 2024 Brasileirão, the referee from Goiás was involved in Tricolor's matches with controversies against Palmeiras, Juventude, Vitória, and Cruzeiro. Despite the complaints, the team did not lose any of these matches, with draws against the first two, and victories over the Bahian and Mineiro teams.

In all four participations, however, there were controversial plays complained about by São Paulo. In the classic, he was criticized for the excessive fouls noted in the Choque-Rei. Against Juventude, the criticism came from the number 10, Luciano himself.

“Wilton (Pereira Sampaio) is like that, every time he officiates my game, he gives me a yellow card,” said the forward after the goalless draw with the Gauchos. According to Luciano, he was talking to Zubeldía, and the referee gave a yellow card for complaining.

Against Vitória, at Morumbi, more controversies. This time the Tricolor fans were furious with the offside call on Calleri's goal, which was considered doubtful. And also for a penalty awarded to the Bahian team.

To close the series, Wilton Pereira did not call a penalty after the ball touched Cruzeiro's Marlon's hand inside the area. He spent more than three minutes talking with the VAR team but decided not to call the infraction.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.