João Pedro da Silva Pinheiro (born 4 January 1988) is a Portuguese referee who officiates in the

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (), also known as Liga Portugal Betclic for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Portugal and the highest level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga ...

. He has been a

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

referee since 2016, and is ranked as a

UEFA The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...

elite category referee.

Refereeing career

In 2015, Pinheiro began officiating in the

. His first match as referee was on 20 September 2015 between Académica and Boavista. In 2016, he was put on the FIFA referees list. He officiated his first senior international match on 23 March 2019 between

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

and

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

. He has also officiated matches in the

Egyptian Premier League The Egyptian Premier League (), also known as the Nile League () for sponsorship reasons, after the addition of title sponsor Nile Developments, is a professional association football league in Egypt and the highest level of the Egyptian football ...

and

Saudi Professional League The Saudi Pro League (SPL), also known as the Roshn Saudi League (RSL) for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Saudi Arabia and the highest level of the Saudi football league system. The SPL is regarded as th ...

in 2019. In 2019, he was appointed to officiate the

2019 Taça da Liga Final Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number) * One of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (1987 film), a 1987 science fiction film * '' 19-Nineteen'', a 2009 South Korean film * '' Dic ...

, taking place on 26 January 2019 between

Porto Porto (), also known in English language, English as Oporto, is the List of cities in Portugal, second largest city in Portugal, after Lisbon. It is the capital of the Porto District and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto c ...

and

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP or simply Sporting (particularly within Portugal), or as Sporting Lisbon in other countries,

. In 2022 he was appointed to officiate the Portuguese league match between FC Porto and Sporting CP, taking place on 11 February 2022. In this game he controversially awarded Sporting CP defender, Sebastian Coates, 2 questionable yellow cards and ultimately a red, resulting in a huge controversy in Portugal. This game ultimately led to FC Porto going on to win the championship at the end of the season, causing many Sporting CP fans to fear and hate João Pinheiro., Superliga

References

External links

* * 1988 births Living people Sportspeople from Braga Portuguese football referees {{Portugal-footy-bio-stub