Fernando Andrés Rapallini (born 28 April 1978) is an Argentine

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

referee who officiates in the

Argentine Primera División The Primera División (; en, "First Division"), known officialy as Liga Profesional de Fútbol, or Torneo Binance for sponsorship reasons, is a professional football league in Argentina, organised by the Argentine Football Association (AFA). Th ...

. He has been a

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

referee since 2014.

Refereeing career

In 2011, Rapallini began officiating in the

. His first match as referee was on 19 June 2011 between Godoy Cruz and

All Boys Club Atlético All Boys () is an Argentine sports club based in Floresta, Buenos Aires. The institution is mostly known by its football team, which currently plays in the Primera B Nacional, the second division of the Argentine football league s ...

. In 2014, he was put on the FIFA referees list. He officiated his first senior international match on 5 June 2015 between

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

and

El Salvador El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south b ...

. Rapallini has officiated numerous finals in Argentina, including the

2013 Supercopa Argentina The 2013 Supercopa Argentina Final was the 2nd edition of the Supercopa Argentina, an annual football match contested by the winners of the Primera División and Copa Argentina The Copa Argentina (English: ''Argentine Cup''), officially known as ...

2017 Copa Argentina Final The 2017 Copa Argentina Final was the 133rd. and final match of the 2016–17 Copa Argentina. It was played on December 9, 2017 at the Estadio Malvinas Argentinas in Mendoza between River Plate and Atlético Tucumán. River Plate defeated Atlét ...

2018 Supercopa Argentina The 2018 Supercopa Argentina Final was the 7th edition of the Supercopa Argentina, an annual football match contested by the winners of the Argentine Primera División and Copa Argentina competitions. Initially the match was scheduled for 4 April ...

and 2019 Trofeo de Campeones de la Superliga Argentina. He was selected by

CONMEBOL The South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL, , or CSF; es, Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol; pt, Confederação Sul-Americana de Futebol) is the continental governing body of football in South America (apart from Guyana, Suri ...

as the fourth official for the second leg of the

2015 Recopa Sudamericana The 2015 Recopa Sudamericana was the 23rd edition of the Recopa Sudamericana, the football competition organized by CONMEBOL between the winners of the previous season's two major South American club tournaments, the Copa Libertadores and the Copa ...

between Argentine clubs

San Lorenzo San Lorenzo is the Italian and Spanish name for Lawrence of Rome, Saint Lawrence, the 3rd-century Christian martyr, and may refer to: Places Argentina * San Lorenzo, Santa Fe * San Lorenzo Department, Chaco * Monte San Lorenzo, a mountain on t ...

and River Plate, and officiated the second leg of the 2020 Recopa Sudamericana between Brazilian club

Flamengo Clube de Regatas do Flamengo (; English: ''Flamengo Rowing Club''), more commonly referred to as simply Flamengo, is a Brazilian sports club based in Rio de Janeiro, in the neighborhood of Gávea, best known for their professional football t ...

and Ecuadorian club

Independiente del Valle Club de Alto Rendimiento Especializado Independiente del Valle, known simply as Independiente del Valle, is a professional football club based in Sangolquí, Ecuador, that currently plays in the Ecuadorian Serie A. Founded in 1958, the club play ...

. He also worked as one of the assistant video assistant referees for the

2020 Copa Libertadores Final The 2020 Copa Libertadores Final was the final match which decided the winner of the 2020 Copa Libertadores, the 61st edition of the Copa Libertadores, South American's top-tier continental club football tournament organized by CONMEBOL. The ma ...

between Brazilian clubs

Palmeiras Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras (), commonly known as Palmeiras, is a Brazilian professional football club based in the city of São Paulo, in the district of Perdizes. Palmeiras is one of the most popular clubs in South America, with around ...

and Santos. Rapallini was selected as a match official for the

2015 South American U-17 Championship The 2015 South American Under-17 Football Championship ( es, Campeonato Sudamericano Sub-17 Paraguay 2015, pt-BR, Campeonato Sul-Americano Sub-17 Paraguay 2015) was the 16th edition of the biennial international youth football tournament organi ...

in Paraguay, as well as the

2017 South American U-17 Championship The 2017 South American Under-17 Football Championship ( es, Campeonato Sudamericano Sub-17 Chile 2017, pt-BR, Campeonato Sul-Americano Sub-17 Chile 2017) was the 17th edition of the South American Under-17 Football Championship, a football compe ...

and

2019 South American U-20 Championship The 2019 South American U-20 Championship was the 29th edition of the South American U-20 Championship ( es, CONMEBOL Sudamericano Sub-20, pt, CONMEBOL Sul-Americano Sub-20), the biennial international youth football championship organised by C ...

, both in Chile. In March 2019, he was selected a referee for both the

2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup The 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the 22nd edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup, the biennial international men's youth football championship contested by the under-20 national teams of the member associations of FIFA, since its inception in 1977 ...

in Poland and the

2019 Copa América The 2019 Copa América was the 46th edition of the Copa América, the international men's association football championship organized by South America's football ruling body CONMEBOL. It was held in Brazil and took place between 14 June and 7 ...

in Brazil. As part of a referee exchange programme between

and

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...

, Rapallini was selected on 21 April 2021 as a referee for

UEFA Euro 2020 The 2020 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2020 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2020) or simply Euro 2020, was the 16th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe ...

, to be held across Europe in June and July 2021. This marked the first time a South American referee had been selected to officiate at the

UEFA European Championship The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The competition is contes ...

. At the group stage he was the referee of the

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

North Macedonia North Macedonia, ; sq, Maqedonia e Veriut, (Macedonia before February 2019), officially the Republic of North Macedonia,, is a country in Southeast Europe. It gained independence in 1991 as one of the successor states of Socialist Feder ...

game (17 June 2021) at the

National Arena Many countries have a national sport stadium, which typically serves as the primary or exclusive home for one or more of a country's national representative sports teams. The term is most often used in reference to an association football stadiu ...

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

, and of the

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

clash (22 June 2021) at Glasgow's

Hampden Park Hampden Park (Scottish Gaelic: ''Pàirc Hampden''), often referred to as Hampden, is a football stadium in the Mount Florida area of Glasgow, Scotland. The -capacity venue serves as the national stadium of football in Scotland. It is the no ...

, as well as the 1/16 game France-Switzerland (28 June 2021) at the

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rapallini, Fernando 1978 births Living people Sportspeople from La Plata Argentine football referees UEFA Euro 2020 referees Copa América referees 2022 FIFA World Cup referees FIFA World Cup referees Argentine people of Italian descent