César Arturo Ramos

César Arturo Ramos Palazuelos (born 5 December 1983) is a Mexican professional football referee. His mother was born in France and his father is of Portuguese descent. Both his parents emigrated to Mexico a year before he was born. He has been a full international for FIFA since 2014. He refereed matches in the CONCACAF Champions League, the 2018 FIFA World Cup the 2019 AFC Asian Cup, the 2022 FIFA World Cup, and in the 2024 Copa América.

Refereeing career

Ramos made his debut on 28 October 2006, in a Primera División A match between Zacatepec and Santos Laguna 1a. 'A'. He made his First Division debut as a fourth official on 15 January 2011, in a match between San Luis and Puebla in San Luis Potosí. Later that year, he made his First Division debut as a central referee in a match between Monterrey and Tijuana in Monterrey.

The first player Ramos booked in the First Division was Fernando Arce while the first player he sent off was Mariano Trujillo after he booked him twice in 15 minutes.

He refereed the 2017 FIFA Club World Cup Final between Real Madrid and Gremio.

He was the only Mexican center referee assigned to referee at the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

In 2019, Ramos participated in a referee exchange program between the AFC and CONCACAF, where he would referee in the 2019 AFC Asian Cup and Abdulrahman Al-Jassim of Qatar would referee at the 2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup.

He refereed the 2022 FIFA World Cup semi-final match between France and Morocco on 14 December.

He refereed the 2024 Copa América match between Brazil and Costa Rica on 24 June 2024.