BEVERLY HILLS, April 05, (THEWILL) – Football referees are often not known to acquire the type of legendary status normal to influential footballers or tactical managers but there is a noble exception. There is no more iconic referee as Pierluigi Collina, famous for his bald head, stern stare and proper refereeing.
The storied career of the much-respected Italian was capped by his overseeing of the 2002 FIFA World Cup Final, one of the many big time finals he oversaw to become a familiar figure at the centre of the world’s biggest football matches under FIFA.
In his retirement, Collina has taken up another key role of influence as Chairman of FIFA’s Referees Committee. This influential position encompasses the development of match officials and all aspects of officiating as a referee of modern football.
That is why when discussions around new technologies like the video assistant referee (VAR) are broached, Collina is the man to talk to. And, he has a finger on the pulse on the divisive and touching issue.
“The objective of FIFA is to have fair results on the field of play and technology can help achieve this objective.
“Part of President Infantino’s vision for the future is to make VAR more affordable for a larger number of member associations. We are trying to find a solution that can be implemented with a lower number of cameras available.”
Sharing his perspective on a variety of issues around Refereeing with FIFA’s “Living Football” magazine, the iconic referee also spoke on the enhanced focus on developing female match officials on the back of Brazilian referee Edina Alves Batista making history at the recent FIFA Club World Cup match:
“We were happy with the very good performance of Edina and her assistant referees, but we were not surprised. All the decisions in terms of referee selections are taken because of quality.”
Collina also replied to the question of preparing female referees to officiate at the World Cup proper: “We are preparing referees, we are not preparing male or female referees, so the criteria [is] quality.
“There will be time to make this decision, and I wish all the referees – male and female – to have the opportunity to be part of this competition, because it is an experience I lived twice in my life and I can say it is simply great.”
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
