Luis Enrique Santander Aguirre (born 24 January 1983) is a Mexican professional

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 ...

. He has been a full international for

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 ...

since 2015.

Career

Refereeing since 2004, Santander made his official debut on 10 September 2006 in a match between

Salamanca Salamanca () is a Municipality of Spain, municipality and city in Spain, capital of the Province of Salamanca, province of the same name, located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is located in the Campo Charro comarca, in the ...

and

Santos Laguna Club Santos Laguna S.A. de C.V., simply known as Santos Laguna or Santos, is a Mexican professional football club based in Torreón, Coahuila. The club competes in Liga MX, the top division of Mexican football. Founded in 1983 as Club Santos I ...

1a. 'A'. After four years of refereeing in the youth levels, Santander would make his First Division debut as a fourth official on 29 January 2011 in a match between Atlante and

Puebla Puebla, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Puebla, is one of the 31 states that, along with Mexico City, comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 217 municipalities and its capital is Puebla City. Part of east-centr ...

Estadio Andrés Quintana Roo The Estadio Olímpico Andrés Quintana Roo is a 18,844 seat stadium in Cancún, Quintana Roo, Mexico. It is the home field of Liga de Expansión MX, Expansión MX’s Cancún F.C., and was formerly the home field of Ascenso MX's Atlante F.C. The ...

. The following year on 21 July 2012, Santander made his First Division debut as a central referee in an Apertura 2012 match between

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 ...

and

Morelia Morelia (; from 1545 to 1828 known as Valladolid; Otomi language, Otomi: ) is a city and municipal seat of the municipalities of Mexico, municipality of Morelia in the north-central part of the state of Michoacán in central Mexico. It is both th ...

Estadio Azul Estadio Ciudad de los Deportes (English: Sports City Stadium) is a 34,253-seat multi-purpose stadium located in Ciudad de los Deportes, Mexico City. The facility is used for association football matches and for American football as well. The Ta ...

. Santander officiated his first international game on 31 March 2015, a friendly between

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 ...

and

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

Estadio Rommel Fernández The Estadio Olímpico Rommel Fernández Gutiérrez, named after the Panamanian football star Rommel Fernández (1966–1993), is a multi-purpose stadium in Panama City. It is used for different sports, but mainly football (soccer) games. It was ...

Panama City Panama City, also known as Panama, is the capital and largest city of Panama. It has a total population of 1,086,990, with over 2,100,000 in its metropolitan area. The city is located at the Pacific Ocean, Pacific entrance of the Panama Canal, i ...

. On 9 July 2014 Santander was the referee for the first leg of the 2014 Supercopa MX between

and

Tigres UANL Club Tigres de la Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, abbreviated as Tigres UANL and simply known as Tigres or internationally as Tigres de México, is a Mexican professional Association football, football club based in the Monterrey metropo ...

at Estadio Morelos. Santander was the referee for the Clausura 2015 Copa MX Final between

and

Guadalajara Guadalajara ( ; ) is the capital and the most populous city in the western Mexican List of states of Mexico, state of Jalisco, as well as the most densely populated municipality in Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population ...

at Estadio Universitario BUAP, the first major final he officiated. The following year, Santander was the referee for the first leg of the Clausura 2016 final between

Pachuca Pachuca (; ), formally known as Pachuca de Soto, is the capital and largest city of the east-central Mexico, Mexican States of Mexico, state of Hidalgo (state), Hidalgo, located in the south-central part of the state. Pachuca Municipality, Pach ...

and

Monterrey Monterrey (, , abbreviated as MtY) is the capital and largest city of the northeastern Mexican state of Nuevo León. It is the ninth-largest city and the second largest metropolitan area, after Greater Mexico City. Located at the foothills of th ...

Estadio Hidalgo The Estadio Hidalgo is a association football, football stadium located in Pachuca de Soto, Pachuca, Hidalgo (state), Hidalgo, Mexico. It is the home stadium of C.F. Pachuca, Pachuca in Liga MX and C.F. Pachuca (women), Pachuca Femenil in Liga M ...

, the first Liga MX final he officiated. Santander has since officiated three other Liga MX finals:

( Clausura 2017), América vs

( Apertura 2019), and

Atlas An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a bundle of world map, maps of Earth or of a continent or region of Earth. Advances in astronomy have also resulted in atlases of the celestial sphere or of other planets. Atlases have traditio ...

vs León ( Apertura 2021).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Santander, Luis Enrique 1983 births Living people People from Irapuato Mexican football referees CONCACAF Champions Cup referees