Juan Martínez Munuera | |
Full Name: | Juan Martínez Munuera |
Birth Date: | 13 July 1982 |
Birth Place: | Benidorm, Spain |
Years1: | 2006–2010 |
League1: | Segunda División B |
Role1: | Referee |
Years2: | 2010–2013 |
League2: | Segunda División |
Role2: | Referee |
Years3: | 2013– |
League3: | La Liga |
Role3: | Referee |
Internationalyears1: | 2015– |
Confederation1: | FIFA listed |
Internationalrole1: | Referee |
Juan Martínez Munuera (born 13 July 1982) is a Spanish football referee who officiates in La Liga. He has been a FIFA referee since 2015, and is ranked as a UEFA second category referee.[1]
Munuera began officiating in the Segunda División B in 2006, the Segunda División in 2010 and La Liga in 2013.[2] In 2011, he refereed a match in the 2011–12 Swiss Challenge League between Stade Nyonnais and Winterthur.[3] He officiated his first La Liga match on 17 August 2013 between Real Sociedad and Getafe.[4]
He was put on the FIFA referees list in 2015. On 2 July of the same year, he officiated his first UEFA club competition match, a meeting between Estonian club Sillamäe Kalev and Croatian club Hajduk Split in the 2015–16 UEFA Europa League first qualifying round.[5] He was selected as an additional assistant referee for the 2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship in Poland.[6]
Munuera's first senior international match as referee was on 9 May 2018, an international friendly between Saudi Arabia and Algeria.[7] Also in 2018, he was chosen as a referee for the 2018 UEFA European Under-19 Championship in Finland,[8] where he officiated three matches including the final between Italy and Portugal.[9] The following year, he served as a video assistant referee at both the 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Poland and the 2019 FIFA Club World Cup in Qatar,[10] including the final of the latter between English side Liverpool and Brazilian side Flamengo.[11] He also worked as the assistant VAR in the final match of the 2019 UEFA Nations League Finals between Portugal and the Netherlands.[12]
On 17 April 2021, Munuera officiated the 2021 Copa del Rey Final between Athletic Bilbao and Barcelona.[13] On 21 April, he was selected as a video assistant referee for UEFA Euro 2020, to be held across Europe in June and July 2021.[14] [15]