Benjamín Jiménez Retires from ACB Officiating After 21 Years and 606 Games
Benjamín Jiménez has announced his retirement from officiating in Spain’s Liga Endesa, bringing an end to a distinguished 21-year career that saw him oversee 606 top-flight basketball games. The decision comes after months sidelined by injury, with the veteran referee stating that his body “has said enough” and that stepping away brings him peace.
Jiménez, who hails from Puerto Real in Cádiz, made the announcement through his social media channels and confirmed it in an interview with MARCA published on April 25, 2026. He revealed that persistent physical problems, particularly involving his knee and Achilles tendon, forced his hand after years of managing the demands of elite-level officiating.
“I retire due to the physical problems I have,” Jiménez told MARCA. “I had thought that next year I would surely reconsider my future. I had to discuss possible planning with my wife after what I went through with my Achilles tendon. And the truth is that all of this, preparing for the physical tests and everything else, ultimately became an overexertion. Besides this, having to be medicated and infiltrated and all the demands that reach with professional sport…”
The ACB referee’s career spanned over two decades in Spain’s premier basketball league. According to multiple verified sources including ACB.com and Infobae, Jiménez officiated his 600th ACB game during the playoffs of the previous season before ultimately reaching 606 appearances before his retirement.
His final game came in Jornada 8 of the current season – a Basque derby between Baskonia and Bilbao Berri. Jiménez noted the poetic symmetry that this matchup mirrored his debut over two decades earlier, when he officiated Etosa Alicante versus CB Granada on October 3, 2004.
The decision had been weighing on Jiménez for some time, especially after a previous injury scare in 2021 that briefly threatened his career. In a September 2021 interview with ACB.com, he reflected on that difficult period: “I’ve had complicated moments in my life, but that of thinking that my professional career was ending due to an injury is the hardest. Everything I had given since I was 13 years old was going down the drain.”
After overcoming that earlier setback, Jiménez returned to officiating only to face a similar challenge years later. “Now, almost five years later, history repeats itself but this time with a different ending, more bitter than I would have wished,” he wrote in his retirement letter.
The veteran referee explained that medical advice played a crucial role in his final decision. After issues with his knee, doctors warned him about long-term consequences if he continued.
“As a result of the knee issue, the doctor told me clearly: ‘Look, Benjamín, if you keep putting this knee through stress, in three or four years you’ll need a prosthesis. You’re 49 years old and you have to choose between your health or the professional activity you so love.'” Jiménez recalled.
He emphasized that retirement was not a sudden decision but one that matured over time through discussions with family and close friends. “This is not a decision made overnight. Obviously, this is something that has been slowly maturing internally with my wife, with my daughters, and even with some close friends.”
Jiménez expressed satisfaction with his choice despite the circumstances, stating that stepping away brings him peace and leaves him “with nothing to reproach myself for” after more than two decades at the highest level of Spanish basketball officiating.
The ACB league acknowledged Jiménez’s contributions in an official statement, thanking him for his work over the years and praising his brilliant trajectory both nationally and internationally as a referee.
With his retirement, Spain loses one of its most experienced basketball officials, a figure who witnessed and participated in the evolution of the ACB league over two transformative decades in Spanish basketball.
What’s next for the Liga Endesa officiating corps remains to be seen, but Jiménez’s departure creates a vacancy that will need to be filled as the league continues its current season.
As Jiménez transitions away from full-time officiating, his legacy of 606 games and over 20 seasons of service to Spanish basketball stands as a testament to his dedication and longevity in a demanding profession.
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