The Italian Soccer Federation FIGC on Thursday named Pierluigi Collina as its candidate for European soccer's top refereeing body. The decision pleased the legendary ex-referee's many fans who blamed FIGC for depriving them of the opportunity to see Collina officiate for another year.
Reacting to his candidacy, Collina made no mention of last summer's polemics over his retirement and stressed his relations with FIGC had always been good. "I'm proud of this latest expression of the esteem FIGC has shown me on so many occasions," he said. "I would obviously be very happy to be part of this committee".
The new members of the European Referees Committee - which governs all aspects of refereeing from training to technical innovations and applying new rules - will be named on May 23. Its first task will be to make sure officials at next month's World Cup implement a new UEFA zero-tolerance policy on dangerous tackles and 'professional fouls'.
Collina, considered by many to be soccer's greatest ever ref, quit the game in August because of a dispute over his sponsorship deal with a German car manufacturer. FIGC claimed the deal constituted a conflict of interest because the carmaker also backs Serie A giant AC Milan.
The federation told Collina he had to give up the agreement or drop down to the second division - Serie B. He refused and retired instead. Ironically, FIGC had just changed its rules regarding retirement age to enable the official to have one last season in the top flight. Collina was voted world's best ref a record five times.
He officiated some of the sport's biggest games,including the 1999 European Champions League Final between Manchester United and Bayern Munich and the 2002 World Cup Final between Brazil and Germany. Collina, who is married with two daughters, is a graduate in economics.
The 46-year-old financial advisor is an accomplished linguist with good French, English and Spanish.
