José María Ortiz de Mendíbil Monasterio (11 August 1926 – 15 September 2015), also known as José María Ortiz, was a

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

referee, active from 1953 to 1973.

Life and career

Mendíbil was born in

Portugalete Portugalete is a town lying to the west of Bilbao in the province of Biscay in the Autonomous Community of Basque Country, northern Spain. The town has 45,766 inhabitants (2019 census) and is part of Bilbao's metropolitan area. It is located a ...

, Basque Country, Spain. During his 18 seasons in

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men's ...

, between 1953 and 54 and 1972 and 73, he led 241 league games. He was promoted to international status the seasons 1958 and 1959, and was in it until the end of his career. He was the referee when Inter Milan beat Liverpool 3-0 in the 1965 European Cup semi-final second leg in a controversial game which subsequently let to claims that he had accepted bribes to facilitate an Inter Milan victory. On 24 May 1972 he took charge of the European Cup Winners' Cup Final played at the Camp Nou, Barcelona. The match between Rangers FC of Scotland and the Russian aces Dynamo Moscow who served up a five goal thriller with Rangers running out 3-2 victors in the end. In his retirement, he was a partner in

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 ...

and pioneer in Spain with the programs of TVE, where he worked for 5 years, apart from collaborating in programs

Cadena Cadena is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Ana Lilia Garza Cadena (born 1970), Mexican politician * Carlos Cadena (1917–2001), Mexican American lawyer, civil rights activist and judge * Carlos Cadena Gaitan (born 1983), jour ...

SER and Tele Bilbao. He died in

Algorta Algorta is a locality within the municipality of Getxo, in the province of Biscay, Basque Country, Spain. In 1996, the population of Algorta was 35,600. The Metro Plaza situated in Telletxe street is considered to be the center of town and comme ...

, Spain in September 2015.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ortiz de Mendibil, Jose Maria 1926 births 2015 deaths People from Portugalete Spanish football referees UEFA Euro 1968 referees UEFA European Championship final referees Sportspeople from Biscay