Carlos Alarcon (Paraguay) left the presidency of the CONMEBOL Referees Committee after three decades. Since 1991 he represented the South American refereeing at FIFA. "After more than a decade serving the South American football from a key position, Carlos Alarcon leaves the presidency of the Referees Committee of the South American Football Confederation", announced CONMEBOL through a statement posted on its website.
In June 2015, public wiretapping of the former president of the Argentine Football Association (AFA), Julio Grondona, revealed his successful lobby to Carlos Alarcon to appoint referee Carlos Amarilla for the match Boca Juniors – Corinthians, in the Copa Libertadores 2013, when he stated that "Amarilla was the best support for Boca". Many clubs and national associations demanded for years the departure of Alarcon and it was thought that after that scandal it would materialize immediately. However, he added one more edition of Copa Sudamericana, Copa Libertadores and Copa America to his 30 years in the office.
Alarcon was part of the FIFA Referees Committee, representing CONMEBOL, since 1991 and marked his presence in all World Cups from 1994 to 2014. His last assignment is currently being carried out in Rio 2016, where he is part of the Referee Committee for both male and female Olympic football tournaments. "The presence at these Olympic Games and the recent Copa America Centenario make the perfect end to my long career in the service of CONMEBOL and world football", said Alarcon to the official website of the governing body of South American football.
The new chairman of the CONMEBOL Referees Committee is Wilson Seneme (Brazil), a former FIFA referee from 2006 to 2014. He refereed 31 international matches, including Copa Sudamericana final and 4 games at the 2011 FIFA U-20 World Cup. He was initially pre-selected to represent Brazil at the 2014 World Cup, but failed the fitness tests twice and was eventually replaced by Sandro Ricci. In March 2014, he retired early to join the CONMEBOL Referees Committee.
Source: CONMEBOL/Futbol
