Muringothumalil Santosh Kumar (born 12 May 1975) is an Indian 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 ...

who officiates primarily in the I-League and Indian Super League. 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 The All India Football Federation (AIFF) is the national governing body of football in India. It is a member of FIFA, the international governing body of football and affiliated to Asian Football Confederation. It is affiliated to Ministry o ...

Personal life and career

Born in Kerala, 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 Coimbatore Ramaswamy Srikrishna (born 1977) is an Indian professional football referee who officiates primarily in the I-League. He is a referee from Coimbatore. Early life Srikrishna was born in 1977 in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India. At the ...

and

Pratap Singh Pratap Singh (also known as Partap Singh, Pratab Singh, Partab Singh, Pratapsingh, or Partapsingh) may refer to: *Maharana Pratap Singh of Mewar (1540–1597), Rajasthan *Partap Singh Kairon, Chief Minister of Panjab *Partap Singh (1904–1984), Jat ...

, would become professional referees with the

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. He drew two yellow cards - one for each side - as the match ended 0–0. Kumar also refereed the match between

Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), also known as FC Bayern (), Bayern Munich, or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional men's football team, which pla ...

and India 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