Quick Facts
Biography
Luis Medina Cantalejo (born 1 March 1964) is a retired Spanish football referee.
Professionally, Medina Cantalejo is a sports assessor who lives in Tomares, west of Seville. He was one of the few officials allowed to officiate the domestic clashes between Real Madrid and Barcelona. His first experience as an international referee came on 4 September 2004, between Turkey and Georgia, in a preliminary qualifier for the 2006 FIFA World Cup.
Career
He was selected to officiate the playoff between Uruguay and Australia for the final spot in the World Cup on 16 November 2005.
He was promoted at the last minute to officiate matches at the finals of the 2006 FIFA World Cup after assistants of two other referees failed to meet the FIFA standards. He subsequently officiated three matches at the 2006 FIFA World Cup: Germany v. Poland, Netherlands v. Argentina, and Italy v. Australia.
Two days after the Australia-Italy game FIFA announced that Medina was one of the twelve referees retained for the remainder of the tournament. He refereed the quarter final between Brazil and France on 1 July.
Medina was appointed as fourth official for the FIFA World Cup Final between Italy and France and was involved in another important decision during the final, as none of the three officials on the field saw Zinedine Zidane headbutting Marco Materazzi. He informed referee Horacio Elizondo what had happened via headset. The French captain was then shown the red card.
Cantalejo was chosen to officiate the 2008 UEFA European Championship qualifying match between England and Russia.