SPANISH SUPER CUP
Who is Juan Martínez Munuera, the referee for the 2024 Spanish Super Cup Final?
The RFEF has confirmed the team who will officiate in Sunday’s Super Cup final between Real Madrid and Barcelona in Riyadh.
On Friday, the RFEF confirmed that Juan Martínez Munuera has been designated to referee Sunday’s 2024 Spanish Super Cup final between Real Madrid and Barcelona in Riyadh. It will be Martínez Munuera’s first involvement in this year’s Super Cup - he was handed the job ahead of César Soto Grado, the other referee who has travelled to Saudi Arabia with the Federation but not participated. Instead, Soto Grado will take up position in the VAR room.
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Benidorm-born Martínez Munuera started out in the third tier of the Spanish league in 2006. He oversaw two games in his first season (Puertollano vs Maritima and Barça B vs Gramanet), both in the Second Division B. A couple of seasons later he was allocated to whistle his first Copa del Rey match - the Second Round tie between Poli Ejido and Conquense.
In 2010/11, he moved up a division and was in charge of 22 games in LaLiga2. He continued refereeing in the second tier for a couple of seasons before reaching the elite in 2013/14. His first LaLiga match was at Anoeta, Real Sociedad’s 2-0 win over Getafe in August 2013 - the first of 18 top flight games he oversaw that season.
How many Clasicos has Martínez Munuera’s refereed?
In total, Martínez Munuera has refereed 35 games involving Real Madrid - more than any other club. His balance against Los Blancos is 21 wins, seven draws and seven defeats. His record overseeing Barcelona games is similar - in 31 games, the balance is 20 blaugrana wins, six draws and five defeats. This will be his fourth Clásico - his first was the Week 7 LaLiga clash behind closed doors at Camp Nou in October 2020 which didn’t pass without controversy. His decision to award Madrid a penalty for a shirt-tugging by Clément Lenglet on Sergio Ramos was widely questioned by the Catalan media.
He has reached for his red card once with both clubs - handing Jesús Vallejo his matching orders for handball in the 3-1 defeat to Real Sociedad in the penultimate game of the 2018/19 campaign and sending Eric Garcia off in the 1-1 draw with Athletic Club in August 2021.
Sunday’s Super Cup will be Martínez Munuera’s third final. He was handed the European U19 final between Italy and Portugal in 2018 and was the man in the middle in the 2020/21 Copa del Rey final in which Barcelona beat Athletic 0-4.
Sunday’s match officials
Curiously, Martínez Munuera will be aided by his brother Miguel on Sunday - he will be one of the line officials alongside Diego Barbero Sevilla. Mario Melero López has been named as the fourth official while Iker De Francisco Grijalba and Francisco Hernández Maeso will handle AVAR duties.