An international futsal referee since 2019, Cristiano Santos was "proud" for his twin brother, Ruben, who now also has the FIFA badge. Refereeing together in a FIFA or UEFA competition "would be a dream". Cristiano and Ruben Santos, twin brothers, are the mirror of happiness. Both referees from Porto rose to first category in 2016 and Cristiano, who works at a Communication and Marketing company, was promoted to FIFA in 2019, while Ruben, a graduate in Sports Management who works in gyms, received his FIFA badge a year later. With the increase from four to five internationals on Portugal’s FIFA futsal list, Ruben joined Cristiano, Eduardo Coelho, Miguel Castilho and Filipe Duarte.
Cristiano and Ruben were born on 1 November 1989, in Porto, and started to referee in 2007 under the influence of their older brother - who changed a few years ago from football to futsal, where he is active at the district level - and in futsal under the influence of Ricardinho when they studied at Escola Secundaria de Gondomar. "Our brother, Valter, was already a referee and when we took the referee course the places for football were filled. At the time, Jorge Sequeira, manager of AF Porto, recommended the futsal course to us and it was very beneficial for us because maybe we wouldn't be at the level where we are now. And, on the other hand, futsal has the advantage of having two referees and that helped us", recalls Cristiano who has already refereed 10 international games, having participated, for example, at the U-19 Euro Futsal Championship in Latvia and a World Cup qualifier. Being international is, he stresses, "a pride, a moment of personal satisfaction and a feeling of accomplishment", but Cristiano was "happy" to know that his brother "can also enjoy the happiness" of refereeing in international competitions. "The happiness of our family members is something we are always looking for and, being my twin brother, I'm proud of it," says Cristiano, who hears Ruben say that he "didn't expect" the promotion. "They increased the number of international referees and I was privileged to occupy this vacancy. When I heard the news on 15 December, it was an early Christmas gift! I called Cristiano and we went out to dinner with my older brother and our mother, Emilia Santos," he says, admitting that receiving the badge is the achievement of a goal. "It's a dream that we worked for, but it's very difficult to happen. The stars all have to line up and being both internationals is the highest moment of our career and one day, when we referee a game in a major European competition, it would be another dream. The probability of it happening is so small that it would be fantastic", completes Ruben, smiling.
Among many episodes, Ruben recalls one of the many funny situations for being twin brothers. "Two years ago, there was a coach who, shortly after the rankings came out, congratulated me for coming in first, and I said, "Mister I came in second, my brother won. And he, Nuno Dias, from Sporting, cordially congratulated me anyway," says Ruben. Another curious situation that happens frequently, adds Cristiano, is when either of the two is not in a game. "The managers, the players and the coaches ask, 'Mister referee, are you upset with your brother?'", Cristiano recovers, between laughs. "When we were just starting out, people thought it was funny, because it's not common to find two referees and even twins. Managers, players, coaches thought it was funny and asked 'Am I watching double?'", continues Cristiano, listening to Ruben’s final message. "We have the advantage that, as we are brothers, our way of acting is very similar, which brings consistency to the teams because we decide accordingly. The teams react very well to our performances."
Source: O Jogo