Felipe de Jesús Ramos Rizo (born 10 March 1963 in

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

) is a Mexican

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 ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

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 title ...

who officiated three matches at the

2002 FIFA World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea/Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...

. He is currently a referee analyst for

ESPN Deportes ESPN Deportes (, ) is an American multinational Spanish-language pay television sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the ...

and ESPN Mexico.

Career

Ramos Rizo made his debut as a referee on May 2, 1983. Ramos Rizo officiated the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, officially branded as Sydney 2000, and also known as the Games of the New Millennium, were an international multi-sport event held from 15 September to 1 October ...

gold medal match between

Cameroon Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...

and

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. In 2001

assigned Ramos Rizo to officiate a 2002 World Cup qualifier between

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

and

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

, which was held in

Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...

. Ramos Rizo was the fourth official in the 2002 FIFA World Cup opening match between

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

and

Senegal Senegal, officially the Republic of Senegal, is the westernmost country in West Africa, situated on the Atlantic Ocean coastline. It borders Mauritania to Mauritania–Senegal border, the north, Mali to Mali–Senegal border, the east, Guinea t ...

which resulted in a win for Senegal. He also officiated a quarterfinal match between

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

and

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 ...

where he sent off

Ronaldinho Ronaldo de Assis Moreira (born 21 March 1980), commonly known as Ronaldinho Gaúcho () or simply Ronaldinho, is a Brazilian former professional Association football, footballer who played as an attacking midfielder or left winger. Widely reg ...

in the 57th minute. In 2002, Ramos Rizo was involved in several scandals. He was accused of corruption after refereeing a match between

Jaguares de Chiapas Jaguares Fútbol Club is a Mexican football club based in Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas, that plays in Liga Premier, the third level division of Mexican football. Founded in 2002 as Jaguares de Chiapas Fútbol Club, then changed its name to Chiapas ...

and

Cruz Azul Club de Futbol Cruz Azul S.A. de C.V., commonly referred to as Cruz Azul, is a professional association football, football club based in Mexico City, Mexico. It competes in Liga MX, the top tier of Mexican football league system, Mexican footba ...

, which Chiapas won 1–0; the match was crucial for Chiapas aspirations, since the team was involved in relegation and a loss would have been critical. Because of this, Ramos Rizo privacy was violated after his phone line was intercepted. In one of the calls, Ramos Rizo attacked

Edgardo Codesal Edgardo Codesal Méndez (; born 2 June 1951 in Montevideo, Uruguay) is a Uruguayan-born Mexican football referee, who refereed the 1990 World Cup final between West Germany and Argentina, held in Italy. Career His grandfather was from Argentin ...

, then Head of the Mexican Refereeing Commission, and was vetoed from refereeing in the league and was later barred by the

Mexican Football Federation The Mexican Football Federation (), abbreviated as FMF is the official governing body of football in Mexico. It administers the men's and women's national teams with all its youth teams, the national teams of futsal and beach soccer, Liga MX wit ...

. These events forced Ramos Rizo into retirement, which officially happened in October 2003. He currently does referee analysis on

show '' Futbol Picante'' and is a writer for several sports publications and websites.

Olympic Games matches officiated

World Cup matches officiated

References

Felipe Ramos Rizo

External links

*
Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ramos Rizo, Felipe 1963 births Living people Mexican football referees Olympic football referees Sportspeople from Mexico City 2002 FIFA World Cup referees CONCACAF Gold Cup referees