Arrivederci al la Cosa Migliore:
5-time IFFHS World Referee of the Year Pierluigi Collina said farewell this week, ending his 28-year career in football. Long regarded as the best in the game, Collina was born February 13th, 1960 in Bologna, Italy and has served as a referee in Italy's Serie A since 1991. In 1995, he was placed on FIFA's referee's list and his reputation as one of football's most capable officials began to take shape. He refereed 5 matches at the 1996 Olympic Games including the final between Nigeria and Argentina. In 1999 Collina officiated the Champions League final between Manchester United and Bayern Munich. His career reached its apex when in 2002, he was appointed referee of the World Cup Final between Brazil and Germany. He has also served in a UEFA Cup Final in 2004 and his final tournament as a professional was Euro 2004.
Pierluigi Collina's retirement was scheduled for this summer, but his career came to a premature end when he was accused by the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) of a conflict of interest when he signed a sponsorship deal with Opel, a European automobile company that also sponsors Italian football club AC Milan. Manager of Italian champions Juventus, Fabio Capello, spoke of his disappointment at the development. "I feel bitterness for a decision that has deprived us of a man of sport who has always been fair and up to the job. A person's credibility does not depend on who sponsors him." It appears that prior to agreeing the deal with Opel, Collina approached the Italian Association of Referees (AIA) its president Tullio Lanese to discuss the deal and was not discouraged by the meeting. However, Lanese failed to inform the FIGC of the meeting and as a result FIGC president Franco Carraro only found out about Collina's sponsorship deal after reading it in Italian newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport. The FIGC informed Collina that due to this conflict, he would only be allowed to referee matches in Italy's Serie B. Collina decided instead to step down and issued the following statement regarding his resignation:
"After 28 years I've decided to hand in my resignation. People must believe in a referee. In the end, we have all lost out. I have slept less these last few nights than on the eve of the World Cup final. For me it wouldn't have been a problem to referee in Serie B, but either they (the FIGC) have faith in us referees or they don't. If they don't, then we have to go. Without trust we cannot move forward."
It was an unfortunate ending for one of the games great officials, just last year the FIGC raised its mandatory retirement age from 45 to 46 to accommodate Collina's desire to end his career on his own terms. Goodbye to the best.