Mr. Facundo Tello is 42 years old this year. This referee is also the only South American to work in the group stage of EURO 2024. According to the announcement of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), the reason for this is because UEFA has cooperated with the Confederation of American Football (CONMEBOL).

UEFA announced: “Facundo Tello will be part of the 18 refereeing teams at EURO 2024. This is the result of the ongoing partnership between UEFA and CONMEBOL. The agreement will see the two football bodies share referees. The first clash Facundo Tello will take charge of will be Turkey vs Georgia. Both teams are very determined, so fairness must be the top priority.

Born in Bahia Blanca, Facundo Tello is the highest-level referee Argentina has to offer. He joined the Argentinian Football Federation’s refereeing staff in 2011. His first big match came in 2018, when he took charge of the dreaded Super Clasico between River Plate and Boca Juniors. A year later, Facundo Tello was called up to the FIFA international referees list.”

Referee Facundo Tello’s strictness and discipline are highly appreciated. Top and tough-playing teams in Argentina such as Boca Junior and Racing are “afraid” of him every time he referees. After 331 matches as the main referee, Mr. Facundo Tello also issued 1,532 yellow cards and 84 red cards.

In July 2022, Mr. Facundo Tello was mentioned loudly in all South American forums when he officiated the final of the Trophy of Champions (Argentine National Cup). At that time, Boca Juniors and Racing met. After 120 tense minutes, the match broke out with many fights and Mr. Facundo Tello issued a total of 10 red cards, an unforgettable record of the tournament.

Notably, the match between Türkiye and Georgia is in Group F, which includes championship candidate Portugal and the team that is considered very worth watching - Czech Republic. As for the Portuguese players, referee Facundo Tello has been severely criticized by them.

Remember in the quarter-finals of the 2022 World Cup, Mr. Facundo Tello was the referee of the clash between the Portuguese and Moroccan teams. In this match, the Portuguese team lost 0-1 despite being highly rated. Ronaldo and his teammates reacted strongly to the referee. After Portugal had to leave the World Cup, criticism was immediately directed towards Mr. Facundo Tello.

Veteran centre-back Pepe criticised referee Facundo Tello: “Why did an Argentinian referee a Portugal match? It was unacceptable. We were too strong and perhaps they arranged for referee Facundo Tello to officiate to prevent us from reaching the semi-finals. The Portuguese team suffered too much injustice from Facundo Tello's confusing decisions. The referee's feelings and arrogance on the pitch made the whole team angry. After our elimination, I could bet everything I had that Argentina would win the 2022 World Cup.”