Muringothumalil Santosh Kumar (born 12 May 1975) is an Indian professional
football referee who officiates primarily in the
I-League
The I-League (known as Hero I-League for sponsorship ties with Hero MotoCorp) is the second-tier men's professional football competition of the Indian football league system. It is currently contested by 12 clubs across the country with the w ...
and
Indian Super League
The Indian Super League (ISL) is an Indian professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the Indian football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Organised by the All India Football Federat ...
.
In 2012 it was announced that Kumar would be one of three referees in India to be made professional by the
All India Football Federation.
Personal life and career
Born in
Kerala
Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...
, Kumar grew up in a village that was very passionate about football.
He played for small local clubs, earning Rs. 200 per match.
Eventually though, due to injury and financial problems, Kumar had to give up playing football, instead, focusing on refereeing the game.
He started out as a referee in the 1990s for local village games. He passed his written and physical exam for refereeing in 1996.
Kumar started to referee matches at the local and regional levels but also took up other jobs in order to pay his bills after passing his exam.
In 2004 Kumar became a national level referee, however, due to work commitments, could never officiate in all the matches to which he was assigned due to work commitments.
However, in 2012, it was announced Kumar, along with
C.R. Srikrishna and
Pratap Singh, would become professional referees with the
All India Football Federation and thus would earn more money than before.
Kumar refereed his first match as a professional on 7 October 2012 in a match between
Sporting Goa and
East Bengal
ur,
, common_name = East Bengal
, status = Province of the Dominion of Pakistan
, p1 = Bengal Presidency
, flag_p1 = Flag of British Bengal.svg
, s1 = East ...
. He drew two yellow cards - one for each side - as the match ended 0–0.
Kumar also refereed the match between
Bayern Munich and
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
in which Bayern Munich won 4–0.
On 13 February 2015, it was announced that Kumar had won the award for the AIFF Best Referee of the Year for 2014. In response, Kumar said "We have tried to perform well on the field. I enjoy Referring. I would like to thank AIFF and the Kerala Football Association for all their support. I would also like to thank all my colleagues".
References
6.https://int.soccerway.com/referees/mb-santosh-kumar/271564/
External links
Football Database profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kumar, Santosh
Living people
1975 births
Sportspeople from Kottayam
Indian football referees
Footballers from Kerala
Men's association football players not categorized by position
Association football players not categorized by nationality