Fernando Andrés Rapallini (born 28 April 1978) is an Argentine football referee who officiates in the Argentine Primera División. He has been a FIFA referee since 2014.[1]
| Full name | Fernando Andrés Rapallini | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Born |
(1978-04-28) 28 April 1978 (age 46) La Plata, Argentina | ||
| Domestic | |||
| Years | League | Role | |
| 2006– | Primera B Nacional | Referee | |
| 2011– | Primera División | Referee | |
| International | |||
| Years | League | Role | |
| 2014–2023 | FIFA listed | Referee | |
In 2011, Rapallini began officiating in the Argentine Primera División. His first match as referee was on 19 June 2011 between Godoy Cruz and All Boys.[2] In 2014, he was put on the FIFA referees list. He officiated his first senior international match on 5 June 2015 between Chile and El Salvador.[3]
Rapallini has officiated numerous finals in Argentina, including the 2013 Supercopa Argentina,[4] 2017 Copa Argentina Final,[5] 2018 Supercopa Argentina and 2019 Trofeo de Campeones de la Superliga Argentina.[6][7] He was selected by CONMEBOL as the fourth official for the second leg of the 2015 Recopa Sudamericana between Argentine clubs San Lorenzo and River Plate,[8] and officiated the second leg of the 2020 Recopa Sudamericana between Brazilian club Flamengo and Ecuadorian club Independiente del Valle.[9] He also worked as one of the assistant video assistant referees for the 2020 Copa Libertadores Final between Brazilian clubs Palmeiras and Santos.[10]
Rapallini was selected as a match official for the 2015 South American U-17 Championship in Paraguay,[11] as well as the 2017 South American U-17 Championship and 2019 South American U-20 Championship, both in Chile.[12][13] In March 2019, he was selected a referee for both the 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Poland and the 2019 Copa América in Brazil.[14][15][16]
As part of a referee exchange programme between CONMEBOL and UEFA, Rapallini was selected on 21 April 2021 as a referee for UEFA Euro 2020, to be held across Europe in June and July 2021.[17] This marked the first time a South American referee had been selected to officiate at the UEFA European Championship.[18] At the group stage he was the referee of the Ukraine-North Macedonia game (17 June 2021) at the National ArenainBucharest, and of the Croatia-Scotland clash (22 June 2021) at Glasgow's Hampden Park, as well as the 1/16 game France-Switzerland (28 June 2021) at the National ArenainBucharest.
Rapallini was selected to be a referee at the 2022 FIFA World Cup, where he officiated three matches.
