Antonio Jesús López Nieto (born January 25, 1958 in Málaga, Andalusia) is a Spanish football referee, who has officiated at one FIFA World Cup and during the UEFA Champions League.
In 1995, López Nieto accused representatives of FC Dynamo Kyiv of attempting to bribe him before a UEFA Champions League game against Panathinaikos of Greece, a charge Dynamo Kyiv continue to deny. As a result of this accusation, UEFA banned Dynamo from competitions for two years, a sanction that was later overturned.
In 2000 he refereed the UEFA Cup final between Galatasaray-Arsenal. Nieto set a record at the 2002 FIFA World Cup, issuing 14 yellow cards in a match between Germany and Cameroon. The record was equaled in the 2006 tournament by Valentin Ivanov.
Famous quotes containing the word antonio:
“Socialism can only arrive by bicycle.”
—José Antonio Viera Gallo (b. 1943)