Benito Archundia

Who is Benito Archundia?

Benito Armando Archundia Téllez is a retired Mexican football referee. He is known in Mexico as Armando Archundia, but appears as Benito Archundia in FIFA records. He has been a professional referee since 1985 and has had his FIFA referee permission since 1993. His first fixture as an international referee was the 1994 match between USA and Greece.

Archundia is the all-time leader in appearances at the FIFA World Cup, being one of only two referees who have been appointed for 8 matches, the other being Joël Quiniou. He also shares the record for the most matches officiated in a single World Cup. The only others who have achieved this feat are Horacio Elizondo in 2006, and Ravshan Irmatov in 2010.

In addition, he has supervised the final of the FIFA Club World Cup twice, in 2005 and 2009.

He originally planned to retire at the end of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, but decided to continue for at least another year. He was the referee in the grand opening of the Estadio Omnilife, which featured Guadalajara vs Manchester United.

In addition to working as a professional referee, Archundia is a lawyer and economist.