Pierluigi Collina

About

Pierluigi was widely considered as the best referee of his generation, having obtained for 6 consecutive times the FIFA “Best referee of the Year” prize. He is still involved in football as non-paid consultant to the Italian Football Referees Association (AIA), and is a member of the UEFA Referees Committee. Collina has been the head of referees for the Football Federation of Ukraine since July 5, 2010.

Pierluigi Collina was born in Bologna and attended the local university, graduating with a degree in economics in 1984. During his teenage years, he played as a central defender 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 1995, after he had officiated 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

In 2002, Pierluigi reached the pinnacle of his career when he was chosen for the World Cup final between Brazil and Germany.