Claudia Umpiérrez

Claudia Inés Umpiérrez Rodríguez, (born 6 January 1983) best known only as Claudia Umpiérrez, is a Uruguayan association football referee and lawyer by profession.

In 2002, the refereeing course was opened.

Claudia signed up and managed to complete it in 2004.

She finished her university career and received her law degree.

During the following years, she practiced both professions.

At the end of 2009, Umpiérrez was approved as a FIFA international referee.

She was also promoted from the third to the second category by the Referees' Association of Uruguay, with the best score of all her colleagues, both men and women.

In the following year she took part in her first international competition, being called to officiate in the South American U-17 Women's Championship.

She has worked in FIFA international competition since 2010.

She debuted at the international level on 31 January 2010 as the referee of the match between Brazil and Bolivia.

Then on 6 February she refereed the last match of Group A – Paraguay against Bolivia.

Due to good performance, she was selected to be the referee of the third place match, on 11 February in São Paulo, between Paraguay and Venezuela.

At the end of March 2010, she was the designated referee of a Third Division match between Peñarol and Defensor Sporting at the Estadio Centenario.

As part of the celebrations of Women's Month, this was the first time four women officiated a match in the main stadium of the country.

However they were forced by the Referees' Association to wear men's shorts rather than skirt pants.

Umpiérrez was selected as referee for the 2010 Copa Libertadores Femenina.

She debuted in the official international club competition on 4 October 2010, as the referee in the Everton de Viña del Mar (women)-UPI match.

On 10 October, she refereed the match between Everton and Deportivo Florida.

Due to the skill she demonstrated, she was placed in charge of the third place match between Boca Juniors and Deportivo Quito.

For the 2012 South American U-17 Women's Championship, she was included among the competition's officials.

On 9 March 2012, at the opening of Group B, when Brazil and Paraguay faced each other, Umpiérrez was the referee.

Then she officiated on 13 March, when Venezuela faced Brazil.

Due to the fact that the Uruguay national U-17 team qualified for the final stages, Umpiérrez was ineligible due to her Uruguayan nationality.

She was selected as a referee for the 2012 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup in Azerbaijan.

She made her world debut in an official competition on 22 September 2012, as the referee in the opening game of the World Cup between France and the United States.

She issued two yellow cards and the match ended in a scoreless draw.

She then led the last game of Group A, between Canada and Azerbaijan.

She gave one yellow card and the Canadians won 1–0.

Due to her good performances in 2015 and 2016, she was included in the yearly list of best referees in the world by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS).

She is the niece of former Uruguayan international Rubén Umpiérrez.

As a child, Claudia Umpiérrez played football in her hometown, Pan de Azúcar.

She was born into a football family, since her father is a coach, her maternal grandfather was a referee, and her uncle was a professional player who excelled in France, Rubén "Pico" Umpiérrez.

When she was 16, her aunt took a course to be a referee.

Claudia was enthusiastic and wanted to register, but as a minor she could not.

When she turned 18 and moved to Montevideo to study law, she heard on the news that enrollment to the referee school was open.

On her decision to get involved in the world of football, Umpiérrez recalls:

"My father did not like it. He is a coach and sees everything from another role. He knows that they insult referees. He gets angry and yells anything at them. I said: 'Dad, think I can be myself.'

They saw that I liked it; they supported me."

She has been a first category referee in Uruguay since 2016.

On 4 September of that year she became the first woman in the history of Uruguayan football to referee a match in the First Division.