Armando Villarreal (born 1985 or 1986) is an American

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

referee A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other titl ...

. He has officiated in

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

since 2012 and was added to the FIFA International Referees List in 2015.

Biography

Villarreal began refereeing at the age of 18, when a league in which he played in

Brownsville, Texas Brownsville () is a city in Cameron County in the U.S. state of Texas. It is on the western Gulf Coast in South Texas, adjacent to the border with Matamoros, Mexico. The city covers , and has a population of 186,738 as of the 2020 census. It ...

needed volunteers for under-5 matches. He then took a United States Soccer Federation (USSF) course to qualify for grade 8 as a referee, and began officiating around Texas. After working as a fourth official in

(MLS), Villarreal was referee for his first game in the competition on May 24, 2012 between the New York Red Bulls and Chivas USA. He officiated in the

2014 U.S. Open Cup Final The 2014 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Final was a soccer match played on September 16, 2014, at PPL Park in Chester, Pennsylvania. The match determined the winner of the 2014 U.S. Open Cup, a tournament open to amateur and professional teams affili ...

, which

Seattle Sounders FC Seattle Sounders Football Club is an American professional men's soccer club based in Seattle. The Sounders compete as a member of the Western Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS). The club was established on November 13, 2007, and began ...

won against the

Philadelphia Union The Philadelphia Union are an American professional soccer club based in Chester, Pennsylvania. The Union compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. Founded on February 28, 2008, the club began playing in 201 ...

. In the

2015 MLS Cup Playoffs The 2015 MLS Cup Playoffs (officially the Audi 2015 MLS Cup Playoffs for sponsorship reasons) was the 20th post-season tournament culminating the Major League Soccer regular season. The tournament began on October 28 with D.C. United defeating ...

, he admitted after the game to making an incorrect decision in allowing Dilly Duka of the CF Montréal, Montreal Impact to score from an offside position against the Columbus Crew, who nonetheless won in Overtime (sports), overtime. He officiated in the final of the 2016 USL Playoffs and was chosen for MLS Cup 2021 between the Portland Timbers and New York City FC. Villarreal's first international match was on May 29, 2011 in a 2–2 Exhibition game, friendly tie between El Salvador national football team, El Salvador and Honduras national football team, Honduras in Houston. He was added to the FIFA International Referees List in 2015. He was chosen for the CONCACAF Gold Cup in 2017 CONCACAF Gold Cup, 2017, 2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup, 2019 and 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup, 2021, as well as the Copa América Centenario also in the United States. He was one of 24 Video Assistant Referees (VAR) chosen for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Villarreal, Armando 1980s births Living people People from Brownsville, Texas American soccer referees