Keylor Herrera

Last updated

Keylor Herrera
Keylor Herrera.jpg
Herrera in 2015
Full name Keylor Herrera Villalobos
Born (1993-01-07) 7 January 1993 (age 32)
Alajuela, Costa Rica
Domestic
YearsLeagueRole
2013– Liga FPD Referee
International
YearsLeagueRole
2019– FIFA listed Referee

Keylor Herrera Villalobos (born 7 January 1993 [1] ) is a Costa Rican football referee who officiates in the Liga FPD and who has been FIFA-listed since 2019.

Contents

Career

Born in Alajuela, Costa Rica, [1] Herrera began his career in refereeing in 2013. He has since officiated in his native country's Liga FPD and other local leagues like the Supercopa de Costa Rica and the Costa Rican Cup, and in foreign leagues like the Leagues Cup, the CONCACAF Champions Cup, the CONCACAF League and the Caribbean Club Championship. [1]

In national teams tournaments, Herrera made his debut in the 2018 CONCACAF U-20 Championship in the United States. In 2019, he obtained the FIFA badge [2] and got his first senior assignment at the 2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup. [3] Herrera also oversaw games in the Gold Cup's 2023 and 2025 editions. [4] [5] [6] [2]

Outside regional tournaments, Herrera was selected for two FIFA youth World Cups: the 2023 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Indonesia and the 2025 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Chile. [7]

Controversies

In March 2023, Herrera filed a defamation lawsuit against four other Costa Rican referees, who had accused him of leaking conversations of local referees to the Costa Rican Football Federation. [8]

In April 2025, during a local league match between Deportivo Saprissa and Club Sport Cartaginés, Herrera invalidated a legitimate goal by Saprissa's player Gino Vivi, ending the match in a 1–1 draw and complicating the situation of Saprissa. The Costa Rican Referees Federation reprimanded and suspended Herrera after a formal complaint by Deportivo Saprissa. [9] [10]

In June 2025, Herrera saw himself involved in another controversy, this time at the 2025 CONCACAF Gold Cup quarterfinal match between Canada and Guatemala, where he gave a Canada a non-existent penalty kick, which took the game to a final draw and a definition by penalties which was ultimately won by Guatemala. [4] [11] [12] [13]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Tico Keylor Herrera dirigirá el juego Águila-Motagua". La Tribuna (Honduras) (in Spanish). 27 October 2024. Retrieved 14 October 2025.
  2. 1 2 "Ocho nuevos gafetes FIFA 2019 en el fútbol de Costa Rica". Actualidad Arbitral (in Spanish). 31 January 2019. Retrieved 14 October 2025.
  3. ↑ Jimenez, Cristian (17 May 2019). "CONCACAF anuncia lista de árbitros para Copa Oro 2019. Cuatro réferis ticos estarán en el certamen". Sensación Deportiva (in Spanish). Retrieved 14 October 2025.
  4. 1 2 "10-man Canada eliminated in Gold Cup quarterfinal after penalty shootout loss to Guatemala". Canadian Broadcasting Company . Canadian Press. 29 June 2025. Retrieved 14 October 2025.
  5. ↑ Mendoza, Adrián (8 June 2023). "5 ticos impartirán justicia en la Copa Oro 2023". Costa Rica Hoy (in Spanish). Retrieved 14 October 2025.
  6. ↑ Ordéñez, Oscar (27 June 2025). "Designado el árbitro del Guatemala vs. Canadá: un costarricense dirigirá el duelo de Copa Oro 2025". Prensa Libre (in Spanish). Retrieved 14 October 2025.
  7. ↑ Tayver Marín, Fanny (23 July 2025). "Exárbitro se alegra porque Keylor Herrera irá a un Mundial, pero le gustaría saber por qué FIFA lo eligió". Nación CR (in Spanish). Retrieved 14 October 2025.
  8. ↑ Monge Matamoros, Alejandro (7 March 2023). "Abogado explica supuestas acciones de árbitros contra Keylor Herrera que llevaron a interponer denuncia". ESPN (in Spanish). Retrieved 14 October 2025.
  9. ↑ Montenegro, Milton (29 April 2025). "Comisión de Arbitraje confirma gravísimo error que puede dejar a Saprissa sin semifinales". Nación CR (in Spanish). Retrieved 14 October 2025.
  10. ↑ Tayver Marín, Fanny (2 May 2025). "Estas medidas se tomaron contra los árbitros que Saprissa no quiere ver más" (in Spanish). Retrieved 14 October 2025.
  11. ↑ "Guatemala dump man-down Canada in penalty shoot-out". Inside World Football. 30 June 2025. Retrieved 14 October 2025.
  12. ↑ Aguilar Arroyo, Yancy (29 June 2025). "En Guatemala no quieren ver a Keylor Herrera ni en pintura y le contamos por qué". La Teja CR (in Spanish). Retrieved 14 October 2025.
  13. ↑ "Quién es Keylor Herrera, el árbitro que pitó polémico penal contra Guatemala". La Red 1061 (in Spanish). 29 June 2025. Retrieved 14 October 2025.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.