Kevin Ortega to the World Cup: Who is the controversial Peruvian referee who will be in Qatar 2022?

The classification of the peruvian national team to the World Cup Qatar 2022 It has not yet been defined, but as of today the national presence in the World Cup is already assured. And it is that Kevin Ortega was chosen by FIFA to be one of the main judges who will dispense justice in the most important contest at the selection level in the last months of the year. However, his appointment has not been viewed favorably in most of our sports environment. His controversial background on the soccer field betrays him.

With 30 years, Ortega he is one of the youngest in the list of main referees published by FIFA for the next World Cup. But he will not be the only Peruvian, as he will be accompanied by Michael Orué and Jesús Sánchez, who appear on the list of the 69 selected attendees. With them returns the representation of Peruvian referees in World Cups, since none were present in Russia 2018.

That yes, the name of Kevin Ortega is the one that arouses the most discomfort of the Peruvian arbitration body in Qatar 2022. The Chiclayo judge, who has the FIFA rank since 2019, has starred in actions that have left him in question in recent times, both nationally and internationally.

Before reviewing his controversial episodes, it is important to mention that the Peruvian referee has held the FIFA rank since 2019. He debuted at the local level in 2015 and, since then, has directed matches in the Peru Cup, the Peruvian First and Second Division, and the Bicentennial Cup. . While, at the international level, Ortega has already been in charge of imparting justice in 10 Copa Libertadores matches and nine in Sudamericana.

Also for national team matches, the judge from Chiclayo debuted in the 2019 South American U-17. Then, he directed the U-23 Pre-Olympic of our continent for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, an event where he was also the protagonist in three games. In addition, he already had experience in the Qatar 2022 Qualifiers, refereeing three games.

The disciplinary balance of Kevin Ortega is an average of six reprimands per directed game. According to Transfermarkt, in 162 matches he has shown the red card 56 times, 27 for double yellow and 29 directly. Also, he has earned 98 penalties.

the controversies

Like the vast majority of referees, Ortega has not been immune to controversy. In the local tournament, more than once the Chiclayo judge has been criticized not only for his refereeing decisions, but also for his attitude on the field.

At the end of 2020, the Chiclayo referee was in the national spotlight, after Marcio Valverde denounced bad treatment on his part. The then Sport Huancayo player was quite indignant after being threatened with expulsion for celebrating a goal in a match against Alianza Lima.

“Nobody says anything to them. He (Ortega) insulted me on the field. When I made the goal, if you watch the replay, he runs after me and he tells me to celebrate, that he was going to send me off. And my mother lied to me. That’s why I ran to the commissioner to tell him. These arbitrations cannot be possible, and he is a FIFA referee. He should be ashamed of refereeing like that.”Valverde revealed at the time.

Some time later, in September 2021, in a match between Sporting Cristal and Universidad San Martín for Phase 2 of League 1, Kevin Ortega was once again in the eye of the storm.

Diego Penny, then goalkeeper of the holy team who was expelled in the minutes of discount, denounced that the judge from Chiclayo verbally assaulted him and his teammates. In addition, in the images of the match, the moment in which Ortega winks at the goalkeeper defiantly can be identified.

“Referees like this man cannot continue refereeing. First, because he disrespects all the players and the mother lies. There is the image in which he winks at me, all superb. He always disrespects us, he always makes fun of us and laughs ”Penny pointed out to Gol Peru.

Given this, Kevin Ortega decided to give his defense, he accepted his mistake of responding provocatively to Penny, but denied all the accusations made by the exporter of the Peruvian team.

“As an authority I was wrong, but I deny everything that Mr. Diego Penny has said. Besides, he used words qualifying me in an inappropriate way, because it can be heard in the audio of the match that we have on the channel that broadcast it. He called me a ‘thief’ and I will not allow that, those adjectives cannot be allowed, it is tarnishing my honor as a person”defended himself in an interview with Al Ángulo.

The last episode in which Ortega was involved in the controversy took place in the current edition of the Copa Libertadores. At the beginning of May, the Peruvian referee was in charge of directing a match between Boca Juniors and Always Ready in La Paz, which ended in a 1-0 victory for the “xeneize” thanks to a penalty that should not have been sanctioned.

After that controversial decision, which triggered Boca’s victory, the Bolivian team’s environment exploded against Kevin Ortega, even more so when they learned that the refereeing body had received gifts from the blue and gold team before the game. These gifts, in addition to promoting the Always Ready claim before Conmebol, were retained by the local police.

“We feel that we were robbed. I don’t like to justify or make excuses, but the referee thing was horrible, horrible. And on top of that, they show us images, which have gifts from the people of Boca. It is a shame”pointed out at the time Eduardo Villegas, DT of the ‘Albirrojo’.

“For a shirt you can’t be so biased. Or will it be other things? As is said here in Bolivia… I think the referee was bought by Boca, you can’t act that bad. You can’t charge that. We played badly but the difference was in the penalty, that was the detail “he added.

So far, Kevin Ortega has not received any sanction in this regard, but he has received a FIFA award: directing in Qatar 2022. And not only does he have a controversial history of this type, but many more on the list such as Julio Bascuñán, who in Peru is remembered for its biased refereeing decisions in favor of Brazil in a qualifying match.

Bascuñán also goes

The controversial background, the constant criticism and questioning will not prevent the Chilean referee from being present at the next World Cup. FIFA appointed him as one of the 24 members of the VAR in the important national team competition.

Just a month and a half ago Julio Bascuñán had been discharged by the Arbitration Commission of the ANFP, chaired by Javier Castrilli, under the justification of a “generational change”. However, days later Castrilli left office and the controversial Chilean judge resumed activity on the courts.

Thanks to this, he will be able to be one of the protagonists of the Qatar 2022 arbitration list, news that has not gone down well in our environment. The memory of the controversial arbitration in the 4-2 defeat of the national team against its counterpart from Brazil in Lima is latent.

Much has been said about the actions of Julio Bascuñán, who charged two penalties in favor of Brazil and expelled Carlos Zambrano. Then, the VAR audios did not leave the Peruvian fans calm, quite the opposite. For this reason, a possible sanction from Conmebol to the Chilean referee was expected.

However, Bascuñán was not punished by the South American entity. The Chilean judge was even guaranteed to continue refereeing important matches, especially at the club level in the Copa Libertadores or Sudamericana, with controversies included. And now he will be in the World Cup VAR.