Rubén Selman is a retired football (soccer)

Football (soccer)

Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...

 referee from Chile

Chile

Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...

. Selman started refereeing in his 20s through games featured in the minor Chilean divisions. In the 90's he started in the Primera División de Chile. In 1998 he received his FIFA

FIFA

The Fédération Internationale de Football Association , commonly known by the acronym FIFA , is the international governing body of :association football, futsal and beach football. Its headquarters are located in Zurich, Switzerland, and its president is Sepp Blatter, who is in his fourth...

 badge and appeared in CONMEBOL

CONMEBOL

The South American Football Confederation , commonly known as CONMEBOL , is the continental governing body of association football in South America and it is one of FIFA's six continental confederations...

 tournaments. He officiated matches in the Copa Libertadores, Copa Mercosur

Copa Mercosur

The Copa Mercosur was a football competition played from 1998 to 2001 by the traditional top clubs from Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Chile. The competition was created by CONMEBOL to generate TV money to the participating teams, but it went beyond and ended up as a natural replacement...

, Copa Sudamericana

Copa Sudamericana

The Copa Bridgestone Sudamericana de Clubes , known simply as the Copa Sudamericana , is an annual international club football competition organized by the CONMEBOL since 2002. It is the second most prestigious club competition in South American football. CONCACAF clubs were invited between 2004...

, international friendlies and South American World Cup qualifiers.

During his career the directors of Colo-Colo

Colo-Colo

Club Social y Deportivo Colo-Colo is a Chilean football club based in the commune of Macul, Santiago. It competes in the Primera División, the top-flight football league in the country, from which they have never been relegated. Their home ground is the Estadio Monumental David Arellano.Colo-Colo...

 were adamant in processing a formal complaint with the domestic club organization Asociación Nacional de Fútbol Profesional de Chile

Asociación Nacional de Fútbol Profesional de Chile

The , often known as the ANFP, is the governing organization of professional football in Chile.-Structure and functions:...

. The directors felt that the institution was being persecuted by Selman after a series of ejections. This followed after player Jorge Valdivia

Jorge Valdivia

Jorge Luis Valdivia Toro is a Chilean professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for the Brazilian Série A club Palmeiras and the Chilean national team....

 stated that Selman threatened with throwing him out of the game, which he eventually did. According to Selman, Valdivia was red carded after receiving two consecutive yellow cards. The first for a foul and the second after Valdivia ran up to a television camera. Valdivia had gone up to the camera and declared that Selman had threatened him with expulsion.

Ruben Selman's final match was in the home leg of the Chilean club championship game between Colo-Colo

Colo-Colo

Club Social y Deportivo Colo-Colo is a Chilean football club based in the commune of Macul, Santiago. It competes in the Primera División, the top-flight football league in the country, from which they have never been relegated. Their home ground is the Estadio Monumental David Arellano.Colo-Colo...

 and Palestino. He ended his profession by red carding two Palestino players and ejecting Palestino's manager from the match.