De Carvalho Marques and Others v. Portugal
Porto Football Club’s acceptable criticism of referees subject to unjust disciplinary proceedings and disproportionate fine.
In the case of de Carvalho Marques and Others v. Portugal the Court held that there had been a violation of the freedom of expression in respect of Porto Football Club in application no. 47902/20, and no violation in respect of the other applications.
The case concerned disciplinary proceedings brought by the Disciplinary Board of the Portuguese Football Federation against Porto Football Club (Futebol Clube do Porto SAD – Futebol SAD), its Director of Communication, and its President. They were fined between 459 and 15,300 euros (EUR) following statements they had made in the media criticising referees’ performances and the refereeing system as a whole. The Director of Communication and the President were also temporarily suspended from their duties.
The Court considered that the applicants had not provided any evidence to substantiate their accusations of corruption and match manipulation in the cases in applications 29978/19, 37235/19, 34185/19, 29703/19 and 3708/22. The statements had amounted to value judgments devoid of a sufficient factual basis. By contrast, as regards application no. 47902/20, the Court considered that the statements had remained within the limits of acceptable criticism.