Olegário Benquerença

Olegário Manuel Bartolo Faustino Benquerença (born 18 October 1969 in Batalha) is a retired Portuguese football referee. As of 11 March 2009, he has refereed 11 matches in the Champions League and 11 matches in the UEFA Cup (not counting qualification rounds). He also refereed in qualifiers for 2006 FIFA World Cup, UEFA Euro 2008, and 2010 FIFA World Cup.^[1]

In this Portuguese name, the first or maternal family name is Faustino and the second or paternal family name is Benquerença.

Benquerença in a Champions League match

He was preselected as a referee for the 2010 FIFA World Cup^[2] and was the head referee in the quarterfinal between Uruguay and Ghana.^[3] In this game he gave Luis Suárez a red card for blatantly blocking a shot with his hands^[4] to save what would have been the extra-time winner.^[5]

Benquerença gave a touchline dismissal to Auxerre defender Jean-Pascal Mignot, during an AFC Ajax v AJ Auxerre UEFA Champions League group stage match in October 2010. Mignot was warming up during the final moments of the game, having not yet taken to the field, and was sent-off for continually remonstrating against a decision that went against his team.

He lives in the Portuguese city of Leiria.^[6]

References

1. List of Benquerenca games on worldreferee.com
2. List of prospective 2010 FIFA World Cup referees
3. "Ghana pay the penalty". FIFA. 2 July 2010. Archived from the original on 8 February 2011. Retrieved 23 August 2011.
4. "The Luis Suarez story part two – new Liverpool FC star always one to hit the headlines". Liverpool Echo. 10 February 2011. p. 3. Retrieved 23 August 2011.
5. "World Cup 2010: I have hand of God – Uruguay's Suarez". BBC Sport. 3 July 2010. Retrieved 24 August 2011.
6. Bio at worldreferee.com