Jorge Larrionda to retire

Jorge Larrionda from Uruguay has decided to retire from active football refereeing. Aged 43, which means that he could have experienced two more years of international refereeing, Larrionda is going to leave the pitch forever, but not refereeing. 

Jorge Larrionda (c.) leaves the football pitch

The Uruguayan top referee, who certainly counts among the best referees having ever appeared at World Cups, will join FIFA Referee Commitee.

Larrionda has been an international official for 13 years and participated in two Copa Américas (2001 and 2007) and also joined two World Cups (2006 in Germany and 2010 in South Africa).

He became famous for the denied goal scored by England in the round of 16 encounter against Germany when Frank Lampard's lob obviously crossed the line.

Larrionda was also in charge of several Copa Libertadores and Copa Sudamericana finals.
He furthermore was in charge of five matches at Confed Cups and oversaw two Club WC matches including one final in 2004. In addition, he boasts an appointment at Egypt's U20 WC 2009.

The Uruguayan came into favour by his calm but rigorous style which was one reason for the fact that Larrionda had one of the highest amounts of issued cards in South America to offer.

His regular assistant referees throughout his long career mostly were Fernando Cresci, Wálter Rial, Pablo Fandiño and Mauricio Espinosa.

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