The Chilean referee Roberto Tobar will be in charge of delivering justice in the Copa America final between Brazil and Peru. However, he was suspended for eight months in 2012-2013 after being involved in one of the most important scandals of the sport in the country.
Tobar was the great hope of Chilean refereeing when he started as a professional at 33 years old. But everything collapsed after his participation in the "Poker Club" came to light on 22 November 2012. On that date, which was marked in the books of Chilean football, the Board of the National Association of Professional Soccer of Chile (ANFP) dismissed the director of the Referees Committee, former World Cup referee Mario Sanchez, and suspended four referees for eight months, Tobar being amongst them, who met clandestinely to play cards in a department of the city of Santiago, drink alcohol and appoint referees for the matches of each weekend. According to reports from that time, this was a common practice that lasted two years without being known, and was one of the most scandalous cases of corruption in Chilean football. With the arrival of Pablo Pozo, who replaced Mario Sanchez, the new objective of the Referees Committee of the ANFP was that Chilean refereeing should stand out internationally. Tobar complied with the suspension and returned after eight months with very good performances. The referee participated in various competitions, such as the South American U-17 (2015 and 2017), the FIFA U-17 World Cup (2015), some qualifying matches for the World Cup in Russia 2018, and the emotional final of the Recopa Sudamericana 2017 between Atletico Nacional and Chapecoense, followed by the Copa Libertadores Final 2018 (Boca Juniors – River Plate), Copa Sudamericana Final 2018 (Paranaense – Junior), Recopa Sudamericana again in 2019 (River Plate – Paranaense) and now Copa America Final 2019 (Brazil – Peru).
