Juan Gabriel Calderón
Costa Rican football referee (born 1987)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Juan Gabriel Calderón Pérez (born 11 April 1987[1]) is a Costa Rican football referee who has been on the FIFA International Referees List since 2017.
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11 April 1987
La Amistad District, Costa Rica
|
Calderón in 2019 | |||
| Born |
Juan Gabriel Calderón Pérez 11 April 1987 La Amistad District, Costa Rica | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Domestic | |||
| Years | League | Role | |
| 2013–present | Liga FPD | ||
| International | |||
| Years | League | Role | |
| 2017–present | FIFA listed |
| |
Career
Calderón was born in La Amistad District, Pérez Zeledón, Costa Rica, the son of coffee production workers.[1][2] He began his experiences in refereeing by accompanying his father to see matches in the neighbourhood. Calderón liked the idea of becoming a referee and began overseeing amateur games in the neighbourhood in the early 2000s, when he was 14 years old.[1] In 2006, Calderón became a league referee and joined the Commission of Referees in 2010.[1]
Calderón's professional career started as an assistant referee in Segunda División.[1] In 2013, he refereed his first match as a central official in the Liga FPD and earned his FIFA badge in 2017.[1][3] Calderón has taken part in five editions of the CONCACAF Gold Cup, the latest being the edition of 2025 in Canada and the US, where he oversaw a semifinal game between Mexico and Honduras.[4][2] In 2023, Calderón was selected for the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Argentina, where he led his most advanced game in the tournament in a quarter-final match between Israel U21 and Brazil U20 in San Juan.[5]
Other international tournaments for Calderón include the Leagues Cup, friendly matches, and CONCACAF qualification games for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.[4][2] In April 2026, Calderón was chosen as the referee of the Costa Rican Cup final between Sporting F.C. and Deportivo Saprissa in the Estadio Edgardo Baltodano Briceño.[6][7]
On 9 April 2026, Calderón was selected by FIFA to be a central referee at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, becoming the first Costa Rican central referee at a World Cup since 2002, when William Mattus participated in the 2002 FIFA World Cup in South Korea and Japan.[1][8][9]