Edílson Pereira de Carvalho (born August 4, 1962 in Jacareí[1] [2]) is a former international football referee. Being a religious man, his pre-match ritual was to raise his two football cards (yellow and red), both personalized with the inscription Deus é Fiel, which means God is Faithful, and pray in the center of the pitch. He became notorious as to his involvement in a match-fixing scandal.[3] He is married and has a daughter.
When he was younger, he tried to become a football player, and made a test at São José, but never signed a contract.[2]
In 1991, he became a referee.[4] Three years later, he refereed his first official match, a Campeonato Paulista game.[2]
He became an international referee in 2000,[1] one year after he was appointed by Armando Marques, who was the president of the Brazilian Football Confederation Refereeing Commission at the time; he replaced referee Dacildo Mourão.[5] He worked in important competitions such as Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, Campeonato Paulista, and international competitions such as Copa Libertadores and Copa Sudamericana, but never refereed a Football World Cup match.[3]
Among the most famous matches he worked were both legs of the 2000 Copa Libertadores semifinal tie between Corinthians and Palmeiras.[2]
He was one of the main figures in the 2005 Brazilian football match-fixing scandal, where he received between R$10,000 and R$15,000 per fixed match.[3] Eleven Brazilian National Championship matches refereed by him were annulled, and needed to be replayed. He was suspended on September 24, 2005, and was later banned for life.[6] He also faced charges of fraud, conspiracy and crimes against the economy.[2] He confirmed that he committed those crimes, but stated that he only did so because he was R$40,000 in debt.[7]