Luis Medina Cantalejo

On 21 August 2005, Medina Cantalejo referred the Russian Premier League match between CSKA Moscow and Zenit St.Petersburg.{{cite web |title=CSKA Moscow 0-0 Zenit St.Petersburg |url=https://premierliga.ru/match/match_1067.html |website=premierliga.ru/ |publisher=Russian Premier Liga |access-date=13 April 2019 |language=ru}}{{cite web |title=Medina Cantalejo luis |url=https://premierliga.ru/rfpl/arbitr/arbitr_404.html |website=premierliga.ru/ |publisher=Russian Premier Liga |access-date=13 April 2019 |language=ru}}

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.{{cite web | url=http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/06/en/060508/1/6q2t.html | title = 23 referees from 21 countries | work = FIFA Press Release | access-date = 27 June 2006}} He subsequently officiated three matches at the 2006 FIFA World Cup: Germany v. Poland, Netherlands v. Argentina, and Italy v. Australia. In the round of 16 match between Italy and Australia, he made some controversial decisions, including showing Italy's Marco Materazzi a straight red card for a challenge on Australia's Mark Bresciano, and later awarded an injury time penalty to Italy after adjudging Australian defender Lucas Neill to have fouled Italian full back Fabio Grosso in the penalty area; Francesco Totti converted the ensuing spot kick to score and give the Italians a 1–0 victory.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2014/dec/05/sp-golden-goal-fabio-grosso-italy-germany-2006|title=Golden goal: Fabio Grosso for Italy v Germany (2006)|author=Nick Miller|date=5 December 2014|newspaper=The Guardian}}{{cite news|url=https://www.usatoday.com/sports/soccer/worldcup/2006-06-26-italy-australia_x.htm|title=Late Totti penalty kick sends Italy past Australia|date=27 June 2006|newspaper=USA Today | first=Andy | last=Gardiner | access-date=11 May 2010}}{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/27/sports/soccer/27italy.html?_r=0|title=A Tumble, a Whistle and a Controversial Victory for Italy|newspaper=The New York Times|author1=Mark Landler|date=27 June 2006|access-date=9 July 2016}}{{cite web|url=http://www.cnn.com/2009/SPORT/football/11/19/football.goals.injustices/|title=Football's worst injustices|publisher=CNN|author1=Thomas Cooper|date=19 November 2009|access-date=9 July 2016}}{{cite web | url=http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/soccer/20060627-9999-1s27wcup.html | title = Late, disputed penalty knocks out Australia | work = San Diego Union Tribune | access-date = 28 June 2006}}

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 Cantalejo 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.{{Cite web |url=http://www.theblizzard.co.uk/blog/issue-eleven-excerpt-horacio-elizondo-on-sending-off-zidane/ |title=Issue Eleven excerpt: Horacio Elizondo on sending off Zidane | the Blizzard |access-date=29 November 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140202151233/http://www.theblizzard.co.uk/blog/issue-eleven-excerpt-horacio-elizondo-on-sending-off-zidane/ |archive-date=2 February 2014 |url-status=dead }} The French captain was then shown the red card.{{cite web | url=http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=373704&cc=5739 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071021090304/http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=373704&cc=5739 | url-status=dead | archive-date=21 October 2007 | title = Fourth official: I saw Zidane's headbutt | work = Reuters/ESPN| access-date = 11 July 2006}}

Medina Cantalejo was chosen to officiate the 2008 UEFA European Championship qualifying match between England and Russia.

On 20 May 2009, Medina refereed the UEFA Cup Final between Shakhtar Donetsk and Werder Bremen.{{Cite news|title=Luis Medina Cantalejo to referee UEFA Cup final |url=https://www.uefa.com/news-media/news/01d9-0e7231bc77aa-282f99def3c1-1000--luis-medina-cantalejo-to-referee-uefa-cup-final/ |work=UEFA |publisher=Union of European Football Associations |date=18 May 2009 |access-date=18 May 2009 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121022231207/http://www.uefa.com/uefa/footballfirst/matchorganisation/refereeing/news/newsid%3D830830.html |archive-date=22 October 2012 }}

Professionally, Medina Cantalejo is a sports assessor who lives in Tomares, west of Seville.{{cn|date=February 2020}}

{{Reflist}}

• [http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/06/en/w/ref/187224_MEDINA_CANTALEJO_Luis.html fifaworldcup.yahoo.com profile]
• {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20060908050320/http://www.ratetheref.net/referees/view.php?Id=36 Profile on ratetheref.net]}}
• [http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/06/en/w/match/template.html?id=53 Italy v. Australia Match Report]
• {{RPL referee|404}}

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{{succession box|title=UEFA Cup Final Referees|before=UEFA Cup Final 2008
Peter Fröjdfeldt |after=UEFA Europa League Final 2010
Nicola Rizzoli |years=Final 2009
Luis Medina Cantalejo}}

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{{Referees 2006 World Cup}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Medina Cantalejo, Luis}}

Category:1964 births

Category:Living people

Category:2006 FIFA World Cup referees

Category:Spanish football referees