José João Mendes Pratas (6 October 1957 – 1 October 2017) was a Portuguese football referee. He was born in

Évora Évora ( , ), officially the Very Noble and Ever Loyal City of Évora (), is a city and a municipalities of Portugal, municipality in Portugal. It has 53,591 inhabitants (2021), in an area of . It is the historic capital of the Alentejo reg ...

, where he died on 1 October 2017, at the age of 59. He was in the first national category between 1988-1989 and 2002-2003, arbitrating about 200 games 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 also refereed the final of the Cup of 1993-1994. He was international referee between 1993 and 2002, retiring from the arbitration in 2003. The finish of his career was announced on December 31, 2002, having refereed his last match at Povoa de Varzim in Varzim S.C.-

FC Porto Futebol Clube do Porto, Order of Prince Henry, MHIH, Order of Merit (Portugal), OM (), commonly known as FC Porto or simply Porto, is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Porto. It is best known for the professional association footbal ...

. When he died in 2017, he was an observer of the Arbitration Council of the

Portuguese Football Federation The Portuguese Football Federation ( , FPF) is the governing body of Association football, football in Portugal. The federation was formed in 1914 as Portuguese Football Union (, UPF) by the three existing regional associations of Lisbon Footbal ...

. According to the Portuguese Professional Football League, "he was one of the referees who made the most of the class. José Pratas represented a generation of referees who had great relevance in the development of professional football".Antigo árbitro internacional José Pratas morreu este domingo

References

1957 births 2017 deaths Portuguese football referees Sportspeople from Évora {{Portugal-footy-bio-stub