Football: Collina to bid farewell

Pierluigi Collina will referee his final match on June 18 when Bologna play Parma in the second leg of their Serie A relegation play-off. Voted world referee of the year five times, Collina must hang up his whistle having reached the age of 45, the retirement age set for referees in Italy. He is now expected to take up the role of selecting referees for Serie A matches next season.

Collina has been a referee for 28 years and the pinnacle of his career was when he officiated at the 2002 World Cup final between Brazil and Germany. Instantly recognisable for his bald head and bulging eyes, Collina is a celebrity in his own right in Italy, often appearing on television shows.

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this is bad news, hes the best by miles.

i guess though, he might get better refs into the sport

He is head and shoulders above the rest.

Head and Shoulders? He has no hair, but still one of the best referees i have ever seen, and the most scariest.

lmao

Rennie equally is the worst ref around at the moment.

Collina can safetly sit back and say he had a great career as a referee. I hope he goes into training future refs and passes along some of his traits/knowledge.

I agree, Rennie is useless...

Get Collina in the P/Ship!

Isnt the retirment age in England older than Italy!

We need some good refs and he is easily the best!

:party-smiley-018:

There was talk about it but I think they said that it couldn't happen because of something in the rules.

Pierluigi Collina was on Wednesday formally given the chance to prolong his career as a Serie A referee by a further year. Italian Football Federation (FIGC) directors agreed changes to the mandatory retirement age of 45, allowing for special dispensations to be granted to UEFA-Elite standard officials.

"The green light has been given for the prolongation of the activity of Elite UEFA category referees and therefore Pierluigi Collina can referee in Italy until the end of June 2006," said the FIGC in a statement.

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