Former Argentine FIFA referee Horacio Elizondo was chosen by the Executive Committee of the Costa Rican Football Federation to assume the presidency of the Referees Committee.
The experienced Argentine with more than 22 years on the international list refereed the opening match of the 2006 World Cup in Germany, between Germany and Costa Rica, and the final of that same tournament between Italy and France. Additionally, he attended several U-17 and U-20 World Cups (Egypt 1997, United Arab Emirates 2003, Netherlands 2005, Peru 2005), Athens 2004 Olympic Games, two America Cups (Bolivia 1997, Paraguay 1999) and three Libertadores Cup Finals (2001, 2005, 2006). After his retirement, Elizondo was Director of Refereeing in the Argentine Football Association within the Normalizing Committee (2008-2010 and 2017-2018), in which he implemented competition and referee development programs for different categories of the Argentine football. Additionally, he has served as a FIFA instructor for CONMEBOL and CONCACAF (2010-2012), where he developed educational programs for referees, assistants, and instructors. His last position was Director of Refereeing in Paraguay (2019-2022), where he highlighted the implementation of the VAR in 2020, after being an advisor and referee consultant (2015-2016). Recently, Elizondo was appointed by CONMEBOL as a referee consultant for the Bolivian Football Federation for an indefinite period and will be advising them remotely. (Source: FCRF)
Elizondo has been negotiating his contract with the Costa Rican federation for three months, but there were delays in finalizing it because there was a change in the leadership. In addition to his new position in Costa Rica, Elizondo will also carry out consulting work in Bolivia, where the change of referee leadership was ordered after the scandalous audios that revealed match-fixing by the betting mafia. He is accompanied in his new role by a former Spanish FIFA referee, Cesar Muniz Fernandez. (Source: Ole)