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Pierluigi Collina

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Pierluigi Collina
Collina as head of referees for the Ukrainian Association of Football in 2010
Born (1960-02-13) 13 February 1960 (age 64)
Bologna, Italy
Other occupation Financial advisor, UEFA Head of Referees
Domestic
Years League Role
1988–1991 Serie C2 Referee
1988–1991 Serie C1 Referee
1991–2005 Serie B Referee
1991–2005 Serie A Referee
1992–2006 Coppa Italia[1] Referee
International
Years League Role
1995–2005 FIFA listed Referee

Pierluigi Collina (Italian pronunciation: [ˌpjɛrluˈiːdʒi kolˈliːna]; born 13 February 1960) is an Italian former football referee. He was named "The World's Best Referee" by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics six consecutive times from 1998 to 2003.[2]

Collina is still involved in football as an unpaid consultant to the Italian Football Referees Association (AIA), the Head of Referees for the Football Federation of Ukraine since 2010,[3] a member of the UEFA Referees Committee, and Chairman of the FIFA referees committee.[4]

Refereeing career

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Collina was born in Bologna and attended the University of Bologna, graduating with a degree in economics in 1984. During his teenage years, he played as a centre-back for a local team, but was persuaded in 1977 to take a referee's course, where it was discovered that he had a particular aptitude for the job. Within three years he was officiating at the highest level of regional matches, while also completing his compulsory military service. In 1988, he progressed more rapidly than normal to the national third division, Serie C1 and Serie C2. After three seasons, he was promoted to officiating Serie B and Serie A matches.

Around this time, Collina developed a severe form of alopecia, resulting in the permanent loss of all his facial hair, giving him his distinctive bald appearance and earning the nickname Kojak.

In 1995, after officiating at 43 Serie A matches, he was placed on FIFA's Referees List. He was allocated five matches at the 1996 Olympic Games, including the final between Nigeria and Argentina. He refereed the 1999 UEFA Champions League final between Bayern Munich and Manchester United; he cited this as his most memorable game because of the cheers at the end, which he described as a "lions' roar".[5]

Collina's referee kit worn at the 2002 FIFA World Cup final

In June 2002, Collina reached the pinnacle of his career, when he was chosen to officiate the World Cup final, between Brazil and Germany. Prior to the game, Germany's Oliver Kahn told the Irish Times: "Collina is a world-class referee, there's no doubt about that, but he doesn't bring luck, does he?" Kahn was referring to two previous high-profile matches that Collina had refereed which involved Kahn: the aforementioned 1999 UEFA Champions League final, a 2–1 defeat for Bayern; and Germany's 5–1 defeat against England in September 2001.[6] Kahn's luck did not change in the final, and his team lost 2–0.

He refereed the 2004 UEFA Cup Final between Valencia and Marseille. UEFA Euro 2004 was his last major international tournament, as in February 2005, he reached the mandatory retirement age. His last international match was Portugal against Slovakia, a 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifier at Estádio da Luz in Lisbon.

The FIGC raised its mandatory retirement age to 46 in order to accommodate Collina for a further season. However, a dispute emerged between the federation and Collina early in August 2005, following his decision to sign a sponsorship deal with Opel (also advertising for Vauxhall Motors in the United Kingdom – both were owned by General Motors at the time). As Opel was also a sponsor of Serie A club A.C. Milan, the deal was seen as a conflict of interest and Collina was not allowed to referee top-flight matches in Italy. In response, he handed in his resignation, effectively ending his career. The Italian Referees Association then attempted to reject his resignation, but Collina persisted with his retirement from the league.

Collina attracted the ire of Luciano Moggi, the Juventus executive and chief instigator of the 2006 Italian football scandal. Collina was one of the referees that Moggi attempted to have punished for decisions that were made against Juventus. In an intercepted phone call, Moggi claimed that Collina and his colleague Roberto Rosetti were too "objective" and should be "punished" for it.[7][8] As a result, he and Rosetti were two of the few referees that emerged unscathed from the scandal.

After retiring from Serie A, Collina refereed the Soccer Aid matches for charity in May 2006 and September 2008. During the latter of these games, Collina was involved in an awkward fall and was stretchered off after 21 minutes of play. He later refereed the first half of the 2010 Soccer Aid match.

His final competitive game was a Champions League qualifier between Everton and Villarreal on 24 August 2005. He announced his retirement soon after the game.

Later career

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Collina was appointed head of referees for the Football Federation of Ukraine since 2010.[3] His work in this position is criticised by national referees who disapprove of his lack of involvement in Ukrainian football (spending not more than two weeks per year in Ukraine) and possible tolerance towards corruption in the Ukrainian national football association.[9]

Collina was involved in the introduction and evaluation of the video assistant referee system for the 2018 World Cup. During the tournament he pointed out the system's effectiveness[10] and later commented positively on its application.[11]

Personal life

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Collina during the 2019 AFC Asian Cup Final between Japan and Qatar

In 1988, Collina met his wife Gianna in Versilia. After living together almost from their meeting, they moved to the coastal town of Viareggio. Since their marriage, the couple have had two daughters. In 2003, Collina published his autobiography, My Rules of the Game (Le Mie Regole del Gioco). In August 2005, after his retirement, he concentrated on his own business, as a financial advisor. Today he lives in Forte dei Marmi.[12]

After refereeing the Second Round match between Japan and Turkey at the 2002 FIFA World Cup, Collina became famous in Japan, and appeared in a television advert for frozen takoyaki products. He is also very popular in Turkey, as no Turkish team, national or club, lost a game with him in charge.[13]

Although Collina is closely identified with football, his favourite sports club plays basketball. He is a lifelong supporter of local club Fortitudo Bologna.[14] On 25 January 2010, Collina participated in a special match for supporting victims of the earthquake in Haiti between a team called "Friends of Zidane and Ronaldo" and Benfica in Lisbon.[15][16]

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Music

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In July 2002, he appeared in cartoon form in George Michael's video "Shoot the Dog".[17]

Advertising

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In 2003, Collina appeared in an advert of a Turkish GSM operator, Aria, due to his popularity in Turkey.[18] In December 2004, he starred in a commercial for MB Pivo in Serbia, alongside Lazar Ristovski.[19] His quote in Serbian "Nema cekaj Lazo, daj MB pivo" (I can't wait no longer Laza, give me MB beer) is famous in Serbia.[20] He appeared in another MB Pivo advert two years later.[21]

Collina's easily-recognisable face (to followers of football) also led to his appearance in an advert for the Vauxhall Vectra on UK television during the 2006 World Cup. He also appeared in adverts for MasterCard and Adidas during the tournament.

Video games

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Collina was chosen as the cover figure for the football video games Pro Evolution Soccer 3 and Pro Evolution Soccer 4, appearing alongside compatriot Francesco Totti and Thierry Henry for the latter. This was unusual, as football games had come to almost exclusively feature only players and managers on their covers, and he did not feature in either game. In addition, he featured as an "unlockable" referee in the rival EA Sports game FIFA Football 2005, released shortly before Pro Evolution Soccer 4.

Honors

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Major matches refereed

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Date Match Tournament Ref
3 August 1996 Nigeria vs Argentina (3–2) 1996 FIFA Men's Olympic Football Tournament Final [27]
26 May 1999 Manchester United vs Bayern Munich (2–1) 1999 UEFA Champions League final [28]
30 June 2002 Germany vs Brazil (0–2) 2002 FIFA World Cup final [29]
19 May 2004 Valencia vs Marseille (2–0) 2004 UEFA Cup final [30]

References

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General
  • My Rules of the Game: Pierluigi Collina (translated from the Italian by Iain Halliday), Macmillan, 2003. ISBN 0-330-41872-6 Original title: Le Mie Regole del Gioco.
Specific
  1. ^ Lewis, Rhett (14 September 2021). "Pierluigi Collina: Voted Best Referee Of The Year Six Times". History Of Soccer. Archived from the original on 28 October 2022. Retrieved 28 October 2022.
  2. ^ IFFHS: "All-Time World Referee Ranking" Archived 15 June 2018 at the Wayback Machine. Iffhs.de. Retrieved on 16 July 2015.
  3. ^ a b Ukraine trying to revive Crimean champion football club Archived 8 November 2023 at the Wayback Machine, USA Today (19 June 2015)
  4. ^ "Referees' Committee". Archived from the original on 21 September 2020. Retrieved 2 June 2020.
  5. ^ Referee profile Archived 11 September 2012 at the Wayback Machine mentioning the "lion's roar", 1999: the Euro 2004 section of the 7M.CN website.
  6. ^ World Cup 2002 News Archived 11 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine: Ireland.com (The Irish Times) (1 July 2002). Retrieved on 29 May 2007.
  7. ^ ""Consigli" agli arbitri e minacce Le telefonate dei potenti del calcio - Serie A - Calcio - Sport - Repubblica.it". repubblica.it (in Italian). Archived from the original on 12 January 2020. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  8. ^ Roberto Rosetti Archived 4 October 2011 at the Wayback Machine. Worldreferee.com. Retrieved on 4 December 2011.
  9. ^ ""Колліна прикриває корупцію своїм іменем". Сповідь арбітра". www.matchday.ua. Archived from the original on 20 May 2022. Retrieved 5 May 2016.
  10. ^ "FIFA referee chief Pierluigi Collina 'pleased' with impact of VAR at 2018 World Cup". 30 June 2018. Archived from the original on 3 October 2022. Retrieved 3 October 2022.
  11. ^ "World Cup ref chief Pierluigi Collina dishes on VAR impact at Russia 2018". 15 August 2018. Archived from the original on 3 October 2022. Retrieved 3 October 2022.
  12. ^ "Pierluigi Collina wants referee crowding 'killed' from football". Sky Sports. Archived from the original on 30 June 2018. Retrieved 31 May 2018.
  13. ^ Referee Collina, the referee of the last match for Japan at the World Cup, appears on Japanese Commercial!! (ワールドカップ日本最終戦の主審 あのコリーナ審判が日本のCMに登場!!) Archived 1 September 2009 at the Wayback Machine ADWIN Communication & Marketing website (Japanese) retrieved 19 December 2009
  14. ^ "ROAD TO DERBY: I fischietti Rizzoli e Collina". SuperBasket (in Italian). 24 December 2019. Archived from the original on 30 November 2022. Retrieved 30 November 2022.
  15. ^ "Stars shine for Haiti in Lisbon fundraiser". UEFA. 26 January 2010. Archived from the original on 1 December 2022. Retrieved 30 November 2022.
  16. ^ "55,000 Spectators Join the Match Against Poverty in Support of Haiti". prnasia.com. 27 January 2010. Archived from the original on 30 November 2022. Retrieved 30 November 2022.
  17. ^ "Soccer: Collina ends his career as a referee". The New York Times. 30 August 2005. Archived from the original on 7 December 2022. Retrieved 4 September 2020.
  18. ^ "Hakem Collina, Aria reklamı için geliyor". Hürriyet (in Turkish). 21 February 2003. Archived from the original on 10 March 2023. Retrieved 10 March 2023.
  19. ^ Д. П. (21 December 2004). "Najpoznatiji fudbalski sudija na svetu Pjerluiđi Kolina snimio spot za MB pivo u "Insomniji"" [World's most famous referee Pierluigi Collina filmed a commercial for MB beer in "Insomnia"]. arhiva.glas-javnosti.rs (in Serbian). Archived from the original on 17 August 2023. Retrieved 17 August 2023.
  20. ^ "MB pivo Colina". youtube.com. 5 August 2006. Archived from the original on 17 August 2023. Retrieved 17 August 2023.
  21. ^ "Ceca i Pierluigi Collina zajedno u reklami". www.index.hr (in Croatian). 25 December 2004. Archived from the original on 21 April 2005. Retrieved 12 March 2023.
  22. ^ "Former Results". IFFHS.de. Archived from the original on 24 September 2019. Retrieved 3 December 2017.
  23. ^ "IFFHS – Various Annual Awards". Archived from the original on 2 February 2023. Retrieved 2 February 2023.
  24. ^ "IFFHS ALL TIME RANKING OF THE WORLD'S BEST REFEREE (1987-2020)". IFFHS. 26 February 2021. Archived from the original on 18 September 2021. Retrieved 2 March 2021.
  25. ^ The referee's a...doctor? Archived 4 January 2023 at the Wayback Machine. BBC News. 14 July 2004
  26. ^ "Hall of fame, 10 new entry: con Vialli e Mancini anche Facchetti e Ronaldo" [Hall of fame, 10 new entries: with Vialli and Mancini also Facchetti and Ronaldo] (in Italian). La Gazzetta dello Sport. 27 October 2015. Archived from the original on 28 October 2015. Retrieved 27 October 2015.
  27. ^ "Olympic Football Tournaments Atlanta 1996 - Men: Nigeria - Argentina". www.fifa.com. Retrieved 11 March 2023.
  28. ^ "Man United-Bayern | UEFA Champions League 1998/99". UEFA.com. Archived from the original on 12 March 2023. Retrieved 12 March 2023.
  29. ^ "2002 FIFA World Cup Korea/Japan™: Germany - Brazil". www.fifa.com. Retrieved 12 March 2023.
  30. ^ "Valencia-Marseille | UEFA Europa League 2003/04". UEFA.com. Archived from the original on 12 March 2023. Retrieved 12 March 2023.
[edit]
Sporting positions
Italy Pierluigi Collina
Preceded by 1996 FIFA Men's Olympic Football Tournament Final Referee Succeeded by
Preceded by UEFA Champions League Final Referee
1998 		Succeeded by
Preceded by 2002 FIFA World Cup Final Referee Succeeded by
Preceded by UEFA Cup Final referee
2004
Italy Pierluigi Collina 		Succeeded by
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