Bio
Edgardo Codesal Mendez
Born: 1951-06-02
Intl. since: 1985-01-01
Hometown: Mexico City
Country: Mexico
Speaks: Spanish, English
Occupation: Gynecologist
Hobbies:

At the age of 39 Uruguayan born Mexican Edgardo Codesal Mendez was the referee of the final of the 1990 World Cup between Germany and Argentina. He also took charge of a group stage match and a quarter-final.

family

When he met his wife - the daughter of Javier Arriaga Muñiz a Mexican who at that time was the director of the FIFA international referee commission - Codesal Mendez decided to stay in Mexico.He was nationalized Mexican in 1981. Edgardo Codesal Mendez' father, José María Codesal, was a famous Uruguayan referee who was active at two World Cup finals.. Being the son of a FIFA referee and the son-in law of the FIFA referee boss must have some advantages for your career if you are a referee yourself. Codesal Mendez got to the final and after his retirement he held many jobs with local and international referees' commissions.

allegations

When you take charge of a World Cup final there will always be doubts about your integrity, especially when there were penalties and players were send off. Of course the Argentinians had reasons to complain: not only did they loose, two of their players were sent off and they didn't get the penalty they thought they deserved. Germany did, Andreas Brehme scoring the winning goal.

Later Argentinians and an ex-president of the Mexican Referee Commission alleged that Codesal Mendez had been instructed by FIFA (Havelange) to let Germany win.

FIFA politics

Codesal Mendez tried to run against Jack Warner for the presidency of CONCACAF in 2002. At first he was ruled out because his opponents told he was a paid employee of CONCACAF, at the end Codesal explained he was not. Yet, the fact that Jack Warner (Trinidad) was the sitting president and a good friend of Sepp Blatter didn't help. All Caribbean members chose Warner and only Mexico and El Salvador supported Codesal: he never had a real chance for the CONCACAF presidency.

Did you know
FINAL

  • Edgardo Codesal actually quit after the World Cup, because his dad, the famous referee, had told him: when you have taken charge of the final, you have nothing to do in football anymore.
Statistics
Statistics for EDGARDO CODESAL MENDEZ
Totals Home Away Total
Penalties 3 2 5
Fouls 0 0 0
Yellow 6 15 21
YellowRed 0 0 0
Red 2 3 5
Averages Home Away Total
Penalties 0.3 0.2 0.25
Fouls 0 0 0
Yellow 0.6 1.5 1.05
YellowRed 0 0 0
Red 0.2 0.3 0.25

Based on 10 international matches

Matches
MATCHES FOR EDGARDO CODESAL MENDEZ
Date Score Yellow Red Penalties Fouls
WC 1990
finalGermany FRArgentina1990-07-081 - 0 3 (1-2)2 (0-2)1 (1-0)0 (0-0)
1/4 finalsEnglandCameroon1990-07-013 - 2 4 (1-3)0 (0-0)3 (2-1)0 (0-0)
group stageItalyUSA1990-06-141 - 0 2 (1-1)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)
WC 1990 qualifiers play-offs
IsraelColombia1989-10-300 - 0 2 (1-1)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)
WC 1990 qualifiers - Am/Caribbean
final roundEl SalvadorUSA1989-09-170 - 1 4 (1-3)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)
final roundTrinidad and TobagoCosta Rica1989-05-281 - 1 2 (1-1)1 (1-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)
Olympic Games 1988
group stageSweden OTTunisia OT1988-09-172 - 2 3 (0-3)2 (1-1)1 (0-1)0 (0-0)
WC 1985 u20
1st stageHungary u20Bulgaria u201985-08-291 - 1 1 (0-1)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)
friendly
USAEngland1985-06-160 - 5 0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)
WC 1986 qualifiers - Am/Caribbean
2nd roundCanadaGuatemala1985-04-202 - 1 0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)0 (0-0)