2024-07-04 09:01:23
Text: Cuba News 360 Editorial Team
Foto: Katatonia82 | Shutterstock
Good news came to Cuban football this week with the appointment of referee Renier Fiss Solís to work at the upcoming FIFA Futsal World Cup, which will be organized by Uzbekistan in October of this year, and in which the Cuban national team will also participate.
In this way, the career of the judge from Camagüey reaches its highest point since he received the accreditation to work internationally in 2017. In fact, he was one of the best judges in the Concacaf Tournament in Managua 2024, where Cuba obtained its ticket to the World Cup by reaching the title discussion.
Speaking to the JIT newspaper, Fiss admitted that he was surprised by his choice. “It means a lot to me. Representing Cuban refereeing at a world event and also defending the colors of my Cuba at that tournament represents the greatest achievement of my career so far,” he said.
In addition to international recognition, the judge has earned the distinction of best Cuban referee on several occasions, but as he explained to the aforementioned media, his success is due to the high demands he imposes on himself. “You have to prepare very well to be at the highest level and be able to perform in the game of futsal or soccer. You have to train two or three times a day and study the rules of the game a lot,” he said.
Fiss is also part of that group of young figures who are part of the rebirth of domestic refereeing after not having its best moments, and who have allowed the futsal category to reaffirm itself among the elite of the Concacaf area, the source said.
An example of this is the four island referees who took part in the aforementioned pre-World Cup tournament held recently in Nicaragua, where Fiss acted as referee in the bronze medal match, as he was unable to whistle the final due to the presence of Cuba.
“We have shown that we are among the giants of Concacaf,” she said, and also praised the good performance of her female colleagues, who “are raising the name of Cuba.”
He also thanked the Cuban Football Association for its support in his career and, above all, the figure of his fellow countryman and also World Cup referee Antonio Álvarez Betancourt, who he considers was his discoverer and “who has educated me from the beginning.”
With the selection of Fiss for the Uzbek universal competition, Cuba will be represented twice, as the national team will be in its sixth historic participation in these competitions that have been held since 1989.
The Cuban team, a powerhouse in the penalty area unlike its counterpart in 11-a-side or traditional football, missed the first two editions of these tournaments but then qualified for four consecutive ones between 1996 and 2008. Later, it only managed to return in 2016.