Dani Alcaraz, a pioneering and unique referee

Like father Like son. With his father, Juan, whistling for 30 years in the difficult fields of the First Region and assistant in the Preferred, it is reasonable to have an itch but the story of Daniel Alcaraz it goes into more breaking schemes as well. He first and only Spanish soccer referee with Down syndrome is an example of self-improvement and desire at the same time for a vocation lived from childhood. He is 27 years old, started 10 years ago and has been federated for six after passing the unwritten but oral test of the Technical Committee of Referees (CTA) of the Federation of the Valencian Community. “The hardest thing is the trials”, Remember. Every weekend he directs one or two football-7 games for the youngest and youngest in the Safor region in the Gandía area. “He takes it very seriously, wholeheartedly prepares his clothes and everything he has to wear,” boasted his father, who agreed with his son’s insistence on following in his footsteps.

Friendly with everyone in the Mundo Deportivo newsroom after delivering Fridolina Rolfö the MVP of Barça-Roma in the Champions League in a Visa initiative with the collaboration of Caixabank for demonstrating the values ​​of diversity, acceptance and equality, Dani tells how it all started: “I went to my father and wanted to whistle like He said that not until one day he changed his mind and accepted. I liked football when I was little to see him whistle and my sister Joan was playing”. His idol Joan is now the technical director of the Mallorca scheme after being a coach at the Villarreal youth academy and an assistant at Guayaquil City until the pandemic caught him in Ecuador.

Dani watches all the football she can and more. “Above all because it’s Madrid I am from Madrid“, he says uncomplicated and ready to continue learning: “I want to get my act together and whistle 11 football matches”. ), Eric (3rd Division) and Adrián (2nd Regional) and in the event of any offside or corner “that he didn’t see. Despite all, Pepe Enguix, president of the CTA of the Valencian Federation where Juan Alcaraz is now a delegate, has never seen obstacles for Dani to whistle at her disability.

During these years, he appreciated the respect of the players and the public for him. “Especially the parents and because they already know him, they say they want Dani to blow the whistle on them”, he has many fathers. All this contributes to the increased security of Dani, who warns just in case: “If I hear a parent’s protest, I will pass. I will go by myself but everyone helps me a lot.” He happily confessed that he had never had to “send anyone off” and never hesitated on the spot: “If I see the ball in hand, it’s a penalty.”

Also fond of salsa and bachata because her mother Amparo is a dancer, Dani never stops. He is enrolled in a swimming club where he is with his cousin Raúl and his brother and lives intensively in all things Society of Spurna suggesting After three years of DJ at Boga de Gandía restaurantchosen in 2019 as the best fideuá in Spain, now in the occupational center working in workshops, ordering screws and folding clothes as needed, waiting for the weekend to come to put on his boots and jump in the grass while dreaming his whistle. that his remarkable case is not unique.