Pierluigi Collina

• Pierluigi Collina expands on how the FIFA Referees Committee is improving standards for the next generation of male and female match officials.

• The legendary Italian talks up the VAR system’s benefits in making referees’ jobs easier.

• The FIFA programme is well underway to produce tech-savvy match officials for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™.

Pierluigi Collina built a formidable reputation as a firm but fair referee in a 27-year career officiating the beautiful game.

The Italian, instantly recognisable for his bald head and intimidating stare, garnered the respect of players, coaches and fans alike.

After earning his stripes as a referee in the Italian lower divisions, he rose to prominence in the 1990s, officiating Serie B and Serie A matches before world football’s governing body promoted him to the FIFA Refereeing International List in 1995. He got the nod to referee the 1996 Men’s Olympic Football Tournament final and went on to take charge of two group-stage matches at the 1998 FIFA World Cup France™. 

The pinnacle of Collina’s illustrious career – in which he was named FIFA’s Best Referee of the Year six times – were two showpiece football finals in three years.

He was in the global spotlight officiating the dramatic 1999 UEFA Champions League final when Manchester United beat Bayern Munich 2-1 thanks to an injury-time winner from Ole Gunnar Solskjær. Collina’s no-nonsense approach to refereeing was again on show at the 2002 FIFA World Cup™ final between Brazil and Germany in Yokohama, Japan. Ronaldo’s brace sealed the win for Brazil.

Since retiring in 2005, Collina has played a pivotal role in the evolution of refereeing; after having been at the helm of Italy’s Serie A referees committee from 2007 to 2010, he spent eight years as UEFA’s Chief Refereeing Officer and finally was appointed chairman of the FIFA Referees Committee in 2017.

Reflecting on his career, Collina pinpoints some essential qualities that a referee must possess to succeed at the highest level.

“As with other activities or professions, it’s a mixture of different qualities. Talent is the starting point but then even the most talented referee must be ready to work hard every single day and for every match, it doesn’t matter if it’s the World Cup Final or a second division match in the referee’s country,” he says.

“Being open minded and ready to accept changes is also important in a world that moves forward very quickly.”

Collina’s wealth of experience smoothed his move from the field of play to helming a decision-making body on officiating issues. He admits the transition from officiating to being responsible for refereeing in a football organization “wasn’t easy”.

“As a referee, my success depended on my own performances on the pitch and I was responsible for them. Now I depend on something that is in someone else’s hands.”

Collina states that in his new role it was critical for him to “immediately understand that a referee might be very good even if he or she is completely different to how I was. It’s easy and perhaps normal to like those who have similar characteristics to yours, but in actual fact, it’s better to look for dissimilarity”.

As a referee who had mostly positive results, Collina admits that he had to “quickly understand how a referee who is facing a very difficult moment might feel psychologically”.

“As a coach of referees, the support I can offer is, among the others, to help referees to be resilient and to get back from a negative moment as quick as possible.”

The FIFA Referees Committee has contributed to FIFA President Gianni Infantino’s vision of making football truly global.

“One of the tasks of the FIFA Referees Committee is to support the development of refereeing worldwide. Therefore, we not only care about what happens at World Cups, but we also work hand in hand with member associations and confederations to enhance the level of refereeing from grassroot to top level football,” says Collina.

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, FIFA Refereeing has provided support to more than 400 virtual seminars worldwide.

Technology, one area of focus, has had a considerable impact on the development of the game on many levels.

Collina acknowledges how far technological advances have come in comparison to the days when he was growing up stating that “matches were covered by two cameras with one for each half of the field of play, making the task of a referee less difficult, because very little was shown on TV back in those days.” It certainly is a stark contrast to the pioneering broadcast technology used at the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia™ final in Moscow, where more than 40 high-definition cameras were used “to show every small detail”.

“It creates much more entertainment for TV viewers, but also more difficulties for referees, who have only one pair of eyes,” he says.

“And they are criticised if they miss something that only a camera was able to show.” According to Collina, the implementation of technology in the game has addressed this previously unbalanced challenge in an effort to “to help referees.”

Collina believes FIFA’s introduction of technology, including goal-line and VAR technology, has made referees’ jobs easier, not least by helping them to prepare for matches.

The Italian, known for doing his homework on teams, players and coaching tactics before officiating matches, says the technologies are crucial to boosting refereeing standards.

“A key factor in making a good call on the pitch is to know in advance what is going to happen and to be one step ahead. Referees cannot be surprised by something and they cannot justify a mistake by saying, “I was not expecting that”, he insists.

“Knowing teams’ tactics such as zonal or man-to-man defending during a corner kick or a free kick as well as knowing players’ individual characteristics, for example, a left forward’s favoured foot when playing in a 4-3-3 formation, might make all the difference.”

Collina recalls his preparations for the 2002 FIFA World Cup final.

“I spent hours in front of a TV fast-forwarding and rewinding VHS tapes of the matches played by Brazil and Germany during the tournament to know everything about the two teams,” he remembers.

“Today, technology offers the possibility to get this information quite easily. Through just a few clicks on the computer, a referee can get dozens of clips showing how a team plays, or the main characteristics of a player.”

Collina believes that the introduction of the VAR in football by FIFA at the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia has produced “very positive results” for match officials.

“Those major mistakes which affected the final result of important matches have almost disappeared,” he says.

“I deliberately use the word ‘almost’ as the use of VARs won’t give football perfection and there is still room for improving its use.”

He first discussed how to offer referees technological support in November 2014.

“In less than seven years, we went from an idea to a tool used in all major competitions,” he says. “And now many more member associations are showing an interest in implementing the system.”

“For this reason, FIFA is developing a new kind of VAR system: more affordable and less demanding on human resources. At the same time, the ‘five-star’ VAR system is being improved, with semi-automated offside technology currently in its development phase.”

Collina is busy on other fronts, too. The development of female match officials also falls under his remit. He says that officiating must keep pace with the rapid growth of the women’s game, which was accelerated by the success of the FIFA Women’s World Cup France 2019™.

“We are working on this very carefully, trying to convince member associations to give female referees the opportunity to develop, to be offered the same support as male referees and the same opportunities on the pitch,” he says, noting that female referees and assistant referees have gained valuable officiating experience at the last two editions of the FIFA U-17 World Cup™ and the FIFA Club World Cup™.

“They are provided with the same preparation as male referees. I hope we are not far from the time when we speak of ‘male’ or ‘female’ referees, but simply of ‘referees’.” 

The FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ provides another set of challenges for FIFA. A programme to ready match officials for the tournament started soon after the 2018 showpiece won by France.

The cancellation of the FIFA U-17 and U-20 World Cups due to COVID-19 has impacted the project. But virtual seminars since February 2020 – focusing on areas such as fitness, interpreting the Laws of the Game and football understanding – have been vitally important for the candidates seeking to be named match officials.

“Candidates for Qatar 2022 will be constantly monitored by our fitness coaches and medical staff to get them at the World Cup in the best physical condition. They will also be provided with the latest interpretations of the Laws of the Game, including the changes which might be decided by The IFAB [The International Football Association Board] at the beginning of next year.”

“Knowing football and how it is played is a relevant part of match officials’ preparation. As a result, we have a dedicated staff of football coaches working with us to provide referees with this knowledge. We want the selected match officials to be ready to deal with the challenges of such an important tournament and deliver top performances, and we will work even harder to make up for lost time,” Collina adds.