Awful memories: controversy-hit ref to take charge of São Paulo v Bahia | OneFootball

The referee who will officiate the Brasileirão clash between São Paulo and Bahia on Sunday afternoon (May 3) was appointed by the CBF this Thursday (30), and his name is yet another one recently involved in several controversies in Brazilian football.

At a public hearing held at the CBF headquarters in Rio de Janeiro (RJ) this afternoon, Davi de Oliveira Lacerda, 30, from Espírito Santo, was chosen to referee the match between the two tricolor teams, which will take place in Bragança Paulista.

As the national governing body usually states, the selection of referees is determined by taking into account the stages of the competition, the importance and degree of complexity of each match, and the referees’ qualifications, physical condition, and technical performance.

In the 2026 Brasileirão, Davi Lacerda has already officiated ten matches, none of them involving Tricolor.

However, in 2025, Lacerda’s name was involved in several controversies. In a Brazilian Championship match, he awarded an unbelievable penalty to Palmeiras in a game against Juventude. The play was reviewed by VAR and correctly overturned. Watch it again below:

MORE CONTROVERSIES

Earlier, in the Campeonato Capixaba semifinal between Desportiva Ferroviária and Rio Branco, the officiating team ignored two questionable penalty incidents, even after VAR review.

Feeling aggrieved, Desportiva protested and issued a statement of repudiation against the Football Federation (FES), accusing referee Davi Lacerda of having an emotional tie to Rio Branco, since he had played for the opposing club in its youth divisions.

“The referee’s conduct in the face of these mistaken decisions and the failure to use VAR caused us enormous astonishment, since proof and evidence were presented of professional and emotional ties between him and the rival team, which benefited from the incidents mentioned,” the statement said.

Later, in a match from the 6th round of the 2025 Brasileirão, the Espírito Santo referee also sparked outrage by failing to award a penalty in the match between Atlético-MG and Mirassol.

Midfielder Gustavo Scarpa was brought down inside the opposition box, but the referee did not call a foul. After being asked by VAR to review the play, Lacerda pointed to a foul by the Atlético player at the start of the move, thus ruling out a possible penalty for the Minas Gerais side. The referee’s decision caused major outrage among Atlético fans and prompted many protests from the supporters.

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