Luis Enrique Santander Aguirre (born 24 January 1983) is a Mexican professional

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 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 been a full international for

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 ...

since 2015. He refereed matches in the

CONCACAF Champions League The CONCACAF Champions League, known officially as the Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League for sponsorship reasons, is an annual continental club football competition organized by CONCACAF. The tournament is contested by clubs from North Ameri ...

CONCACAF Nations League The CONCACAF Nations League ( es, Liga de Naciones CONCACAF, french: Ligue des Nations de la CONCACAF) is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the member associations of CONCACAF, the ...

, the

2019 Toulon Tournament The 2019 Toulon Tournament (officially french: 47ème Festival International "Espoirs" – Tournoi Maurice Revello) was the 47th edition of the Toulon Tournament. It was held in the department of Bouches-du-Rhône from 1 to 15 June 2019. England w ...

and FIFA World Cup qualifiers.

Refereeing career

Refereeing since 2004, Santander made his official debut on 10 September 2006 in a match between

Salamanca Salamanca () is a city in western Spain and is the capital of the Province of Salamanca in the autonomous community of Castile and León. The city lies on several rolling hills by the Tormes River. Its Old City was declared a UNESCO World Heritag ...

and

Santos Laguna Club Santos Laguna S.A. de C.V. (), commonly known as Santos Laguna or Santos, is a Mexican professional football club that competes in the Liga MX. It is located in northern Mexico and represents the urban area of La Comarca Lagunera, made up o ...

1a. 'A'. After four years of refereeing in the youth levels, Santander would make his First Division debut as a fourth official on 29 January 2011 in a match between Atlante and

Puebla Puebla ( en, colony, settlement), officially Free and Sovereign State of Puebla ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Puebla), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 217 municipalities and its cap ...

Estadio Andrés Quintana Roo The Estadio Olímpico Andrés Quintana Roo is a 18,844 seat stadium in Cancún, Quintana Roo, Mexico. It is the home field of Expansión MX’s Cancún F.C., and was formerly the home field of Ascenso MX's Atlante F.C. The stadium was inaugurate ...

. The following year on 21 July 2012, Santander made his First Division debut as a central referee in an Apertura 2012 match between

Cruz Azul Club de Futbol Cruz Azul or simply Cruz Azul () is a professional football club based in Mexico City, Mexico. It competes in the Liga MX, the top division of Mexican football. Because "azul" means "blue" in Spanish, the club has traditionally ...

and

Morelia Morelia (; from 1545 to 1828 known as Valladolid) is a city and municipal seat of the municipality of Morelia in the north-central part of the state of Michoacán in central Mexico. The city is in the Guayangareo Valley and is the capital and larg ...

Estadio Azul Estadio Ciudad de los Deportes (English: “Sports City Stadium”; formerly Estadio Azul) is a 33,000-seat stadium located in Ciudad de los Deportes, Mexico City. This sports facility is used for association football matches and for American fo ...

. Santander officiated his first international game on 31 March 2015, a friendly between

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Cos ...

and

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

Estadio Rommel Fernández The Estadio Olímpico Rommel Fernández Gutiérrez, named after the Panamanian football star Rommel Fernández (1966–1993), is a multi-purpose stadium in Panama City. It is used for different sports, but mainly football (soccer) games. It was ...

Panama City Panama City ( es, Ciudad de Panamá, links=no; ), also known as Panama (or Panamá in Spanish), is the capital and largest city of Panama. It has an urban population of 880,691, with over 1.5 million in its metropolitan area. The city is locat ...

. On 9 July 2014 Santander was the referee for the first leg of the

2014 Supercopa MX The 2014 Supercopa MX was a two-legged Mexican football match-up which was played in July 2014 between the champion of the Apertura 2013 Copa MX, Monarcas Morelia, and the champion of the Clausura 2014 Copa MX, Tigres UANL. The winner of the 2014 ...

between

and

Tigres UANL Club de Fútbol Tigres de la Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, simply known as Tigres UANL or Tigres, is a Mexican professional football club based in San Nicolás de los Garza, a city in the Monterrey metropolitan area, Nuevo León. Foun ...

Estadio Morelos Estadio Morelos is a football stadium located along Periférico Independencia, in the Independencia sector, near the base of Cerro del Quinceo in northwest Morelia, Michoacán, México. It was the site of professional football teams, Monarcas M ...

. Santander was the referee for the Clausura 2015 Copa MX Final between

and

Guadalajara Guadalajara ( , ) is a metropolis in western Mexico and the capital of the list of states of Mexico, state of Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population of 1,385,629 people, making it the 7th largest city by population in Me ...

Estadio Universitario BUAP Estadio Universitario BUAP (official name) is a multi-purpose stadium located in Ciudad Universitaria in Puebla, Puebla, Mexico. It is used by the Lobos BUAP professional football team, currently playing in the Liga MX top flight of Mexican footb ...

, the first major final he officiated. The following year, Santander was the referee for the first leg of the Clausura 2016 final between

Pachuca Pachuca (; ote, Nju̱nthe), formally known as Pachuca de Soto, is the capital and largest city of the Mexican state of Hidalgo. It is located in the south-central part of the state. Pachuca de Soto is also the name of the municipality of whic ...

and

Monterrey Monterrey ( , ) is the capital and largest city of the northeastern state of Nuevo León, Mexico, and the third largest city in Mexico behind Guadalajara and Mexico City. Located at the foothills of the Sierra Madre Oriental, the city is anchor ...

Estadio Hidalgo The Estadio Hidalgo is a football stadium named after Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla. It is located in Pachuca in the Mexican state of Hidalgo, also named in honor of Miguel Hidalgo. This sport facility is one of Mexico's mid-sized football stadiums, ...

, the first Liga MX final he officiated. Santander has since officiated three other Liga MX finals:

( Clausura 2017), América vs

( Apertura 2019), and

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vs León ( Apertura 2021).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Santander, Luis Enrique 1983 births Living people People from Irapuato Mexican football referees CONCACAF Champions League referees 2018 FIFA World Cup referees