JORGE LARRIONDA:
An excellent referee.
Full name Jorge Luis Larrionda Pietrafiesa, was born 9 March 1968. He made his debut in the first division in 1993 and is an international referee since 1998. Nowadays, he´s seen by many as the very best referee in South America.
World Cup
Larrionda officiated 4 matches in the 2006 World Cup in Germany. His second match there was the controversial Italy - USA where he showed 3 red cards (two of them straight). His last match in Germany was the semi-final between Portugal and France. All his performances were of a remarkably high level.
International Finals
He also officiated the Copa Libertadores 2003 Final between Santos FC (BRA) and Boca Juniors (ARG) (the 2nd leg of that match in Brazil). He was the referee in the 2004 Intercontinental, where the European champion, FC Porto, defeated South American champion Once Caldas in Tokyo. In 2005 and 2006 and 2007, he officiated the Libertadores Final, three times the first leg of the match (in 2005, Sao Paulo - Paranaense; in 2006, Internacional - Sao Paulo; in 2007, Gremio - Boca Juniors). Second legs of those finals were officiated by Argentinian referee Horacio Marcelo Elizondo (2005, 2006) and Oscar Ruiz (2007).
Selections
Larrionda was one of the 13 referees selected to officiate at the Copa América Venezuela 2007 and of course FIFA announced he is on the provisional list of referees for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
Did you know?
Larrionda and four other Urugayan referees were banned by the Uruguayan Football Association for six months in 2002. Jorge Larrionda was only two days earlier named by FIFA to officiate at that year's World Cup finals. The bans were announced after an investigation into alleged irregularities. The AUF had not made it clear what those irregularities were. (source: soccernet.com)
Not too much is known about this man. We hope this will change, because he sounds like an interesting guy. His job in normal life is judge it would seem, though the official FIFA site tells us he is a mere clerk. At home in Montevideo he has a small zoo of his own, were he keeps all kinds of animals. He likes to play the Uruguayan lottery, known as the 'cinco de oro'; he has been at it for the last 15 years in fact, always playing the same numbers and never winning anything. He likes all sorts of music except for the national 'Cumbia'.
In the second leg of the 2003 Copa Sudamericana semi-finals Sao Paolo -River Plate, Larrionda sent off 6 players. 3 from each team and 5 were direct reds. It all happened in the 90th minute.
