This Friday the RFEF made official the news advanced by Mundo Deportivo last Monday. Luis Medina Cantalejo will spend next week to become the new president of the referees in place of Carlos Velasco Carballo. As we have published in this newspaper, the transfer of powers will take place on December 1.
It is another step in the long career of the former Sevillian international referee, one of the most important referees in the history of Spanish and Andalusian football.
Luis Medina had been exercising the presidency of the Andalusian Referees Committee since July 2019, since the arrival to the presidency of Pablo Lozano as president of the Andalusian Federation of Referees.
Luis Medina played for eleven years in the highest category of Spanish arbitration. He made his debut in a Real Sociedad Oviedo disputed on August 30, 1998. At the national level, he was designated to whistle the final of the Copa del Rey on two occasions. The first was the one that faced Espanyol and Zaragoza in the 2005-2006 season. The second was the season of his retirement where he was appointed to the Football Club Barcelona – Athletic. He has also called two Spanish Super Cups: Real Madrid-Valencia and Real Madrid-Mallorca.
Among the many matches conducted at the national level, Football Club Barcelona was in charge of whistling at the Camp Nou, which meant the return of Luis Figo to Barcelona after his signing for the Whites. A match made famous by the suckling pig’s head thrown from the stands. Only Spanish referee in a World Cup final
His international career is also very considerable and one of the most important in the history of Spanish arbitration. In 2006 he was appointed as the Spanish referee for the World Cup in Germany after FIFA excluded Enrique Mejuto González for failing to pass the physical tests one of his assistants, World Cup where he whistled four games as main referee. No other Spanish referee has called so many matches in the same World Cup event.
But he was also appointed fourth referee in the final of that World Cup event that faced France and Germany. Quote that has gone down in history for the Zidane’s famous header to Materazzi. It was the Andalusian referee himself who notified the referee Horacio Helizondo of this situation over the intercom, which led to the expulsion of the French player in the 110th minute of the game. Luis Medina was also appointed to whistle the 2008-2009 UEFA Cup final, also in the year of his retirement, which faced Shakhtar Donetsk and Werder Bremen in Istanbul.
Has already worked on the CTA
It is not the first time that Luis Medina works at the CTA. Once he ended his arbitration career, where he spent ten years, the last season also as Director of the Technical Commission of the arbitration institution with Velasco Carballo as president until he assumed the reins of the Andalusian Committee.
In addition, the RFEF confirmed more changes in the area of communication. “Pablo García Cuervo, current press officer of the absolute national team, will be appointed as the new Communication Director of the RFEF,” added the federative entity.