Pierluigi Collina

Pierluigi Collina (born 13 February 1960) is an Italian former football referee. Widely regarded by pundits as one of the greatest referees of all time, he was named "The World's Best Referee" by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics a record six consecutive times from 1998 to 2003, and was named the best referee of all time by the same organisation, as well as by France Football, in 2020.

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, a member of the UEFA Referees Committee, and Chairman of the FIFA referees committee.

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 in 1991.

Around this time, at the age of 26, 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. He later came to be known as the "Ice-cool Italian," or as the "Iron Man," in the media, earning a reputation as a "strict" but "fair" referee, with a decisive and charismatic temperament, and self-control; he was often known for booking players who attempted to confront him. He soon came to be regarded as one of the best referees in Italy, and later, the world.

In 1995, he took charge of the second leg of the Coppa Italia final between Parma and Juventus; this was the first of four Coppa Italia finals he officiated, with his other appearances occurring in 2002, 2004, and 2005. That same year, after officiating at 43 Serie A matches, he was placed on FIFA's International 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".

Collina served as a referee at the 1998 FIFA World Cup; he took charge of two group matches: those between hosts France and Denmark, and Netherlands and Belgium. He also refereed at UEFA Euro 2000, where he was voted the best referee of the tournament, and took charge of the Group D match between co-hosts the Netherlands and Czech Republic (sending off Radoslav Látal for dissent, who had been substituted, after awarding a penalty to the co-hosts in the final minute, which was converted by Frank de Boer for the only goal of the game), and the Group A match between England and defending champions Germany (1–0), as well as the quarter-final between Spain and eventual champions France (1–2, with France winning the match on a golden goal in extra-time).

Collina also refereed at the 2002 FIFA World Cup, where he officiated the Group F match between Argentina and England, and the round of 16 match between co-hosts Japan and Turkey; in a tournament marked by several controversial refereeing decisions and errors, he was praised by pundits for his performance throughout the competition, in particular in the latter second round match. However, he also awarded a controversial decisive penalty in the aforementioned group match, for an alleged foul on Michael Owen by Mauricio Pochettino, which David Beckham converted for the only goal of the game. 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 Munich in September 2001, in a qualification match for the 2002 World Cup. Kahn's luck did not change in the final, and Germany lost 2–0 to the Brazilian side.

Collina served as the chief designator of the Italian Football Referees Association (AIA) for Serie A and Serie B from 2007 until 2010.

Collina was appointed head of referees for the Football Federation of Ukraine since 2010. 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.

Collina became the UEFA chief of referees in 2010. He held the role until he stepped down in 2018.

Collina became the chairman of the FIFA referee committee in 2017. In this position, Collina most notably selects, evaluates, and appoints the referee crews for FIFA tournaments including the World Cup.

He 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 and later commented positively on its application.

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.

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.

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

In 2003, Collina appeared in an advert of a Turkish GSM operator, Aria, due to his popularity in Turkey. In December 2004, he starred in a commercial for MB Pivo in Serbia, alongside Lazar Ristovski. 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. He appeared in another MB Pivo advert two years later.

Collina's easily-recognisable face (to followers of football) also led to his appearance in an advertising campaign for the Opel Vectra and Signum during the 2006 World Cup. He also appeared in adverts for MasterCard and Adidas during the tournament.

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; this was the first time a referee had featured on the cover of a football video 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.

IFFHS World's Best Referee: 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003

IFFHS All Time World's Best Referee: 1987–2020

Honorary degree: Doctor of Science (2004), awarded by Hull University "for his contribution to the world of sport"

Serie A Referee of the Year: 1997, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005

Dattilo Award for Best National Referee: 1997