Arturo Angeles (born September 12, 1953) is a retired soccer referee from the United States. He supervised one match (Argentina–Greece) during the 1994 FIFA World Cup in his native country.
Angeles was born in Mexico City.[1] Whilst studying engineering at the University of Southern California he played for the university team as a goalkeeper.[1] He later became a civil engineer and worked for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power whilst living in Temple City, California.[1][2]
He began refereeing in 1973, starting in the high school leagues. He joined the U.S. Soccer Federation referee programme in 1975, and moved up to the North American Soccer League.[3] He was awarded his FIFA badge on January 1, 1988.[1] He refereed at the 1989 FIFA World Youth ChampionshipinSaudi Arabia, refereeing the match between Argentina and Norway.[4] In 1990, he was added to FIFA's list of potential referees for the 1994 World Cup, and was eventually among the final 24 selected.[1] He refereed two matches at the 1991 CONCACAF Gold Cup, two matches at the 1992 Summer Olympics and one match at the 1993 Copa America.[1]
In the build-up to the 1994 World Cup, Angeles was forced to prepare alone as the United States did not have a national league at the time; he joined a running club and refereed friendly international matches in Los Angeles.[5] He later refereed in the new Major League Soccer, and was selected as the referee for the 1998 U.S. Open Cup Final.[6] He retired in 2008.[3]
