REFEREES from Paraguay

Top 2

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary Paraguayan Referees of all time. This list of famous Paraguayan Referees is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity.

1. Carlos Amarilla (b. 1970)

With an HPI of 38.18, Carlos Amarilla is the most famous Paraguayan Referee.  His biography has been translated into 21 different languages on wikipedia.

Carlos Arecio Amarilla Demarqui (born 26 October 1970) is a football referee from Paraguay. Amarilla has been a referee since 1997 and his first international game was between Uruguay and Ecuador. In the 2006 FIFA World Cup he took charge of the opening Group E match between the United States and the Czech Republic, and the Group G match between Switzerland and Togo. Amarilla was not chosen to officiate Knockout Round matches. He was the referee in the first qualifying match for the 2010 World Cup between Colombia and Brazil (14 October 2007). He was pre-selected as a referee for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Amarilla was chosen to officiate at the finals, but withdrew following the failure of a fitness test by his assistant referees. On 11 September 2012, he officiated a 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifying match between Uruguay and Ecuador. On 15 May 2013, he also officiated Copa Libertadores 2013's Round of 16 match between Corinthians and Boca Juniors (1-1). The Brazilian team ended up eliminated after the aggregated score. Besides being a FIFA referee, Amarilla is an electrical engineer by trade.

2. Enrique Cáceres (b. 1974)

With an HPI of 35.64, Enrique Cáceres is the 2nd most famous Paraguayan Referee.  His biography has been translated into 17 different languages.

Enrique Patricio Cáceres Villafañe (Spanish pronunciation: [enˈrike paˈtɾisjo ˈkaseɾes βiʎaˈfaɲe]); born 20 March 1974) is an international football referee from Paraguay. He has been a FIFA listed referee since 2010 and has taken charge of a number of major matches in Copa Libertadores and Copa América. He refereed his first international match, a friendly between Cuba and Bolivia, in 2012 where he awarded four yellow cards and one red Cáceres has also refereed matches in FIFA Club World Cup and FIFA U-20 World Cup at the international level. During the international matches, he is assisted by countrymen Eduardo Cardozo and Juan Zorrilla. Cáceres regularly referees matches in the Paraguayan Primera División. He has refereed over 200 matches. First appointed to the FIFA Referees Commission in 2021, Cáceres remains a representative as of August 2024. He was appointed President of the CONMEBOL Referees Commission in 2022. Previously, he had been serving as the VAR Technical Manager for CONMEBOL.