Pierluigi Collina

Pierluigi Collina (born in Bologna, Italy, February 13, 1960, age 52 years) is a financial advisor and is generally regarded as one of the best football referee in the world before retiring in August 2005.
He enrolled at the University of Bologna, and graduated with a degree in Economics pocketed in 1984. During his teenage years, he played as a central defender for a local team, but in 1977 he accepted an offer to be a referee when he seems talented to do this job. Within three years he managed to reach the highest level of regional games, while at the same time he did compulsory military. In 1988, he progressed rapidly, even more rapidly than is typically a referee, so he was promoted to the level of the three national divisions, Serie C1 and Serie C2. After three seasons he was promoted to lead the Serie B and Serie A.


Less is more at this moment he is seriously getting the disease alopecia, so all the hair and the hair on his head fall off and give him a unique face and name calling Kojak. In 1995, after he was umpiring 43 Serie A matches, put his name on the list of FIFA referees. At the 1996 Olympics, he was umpiring five games, including the final match between Nigeria and Argentina, and in 1999 he led the UEFA Champions League final match between Bayern Munich and Manchester United. In 2002, he reached the peak of his career by leading the World Cup final between Brazil and Germany. He is also a referee in the UEFA Cup final in 2004 between Valencia and Olympique Marseille.


2004 was his last year as an international referee for the tournament have reached age 45 years. He retired in August 2005. Italian Soccer Federation referee raising the retirement age to 46 to accommodate Collina so he could work one more year. But a dispute arose between the federation and Collina early in 2005/2006 when it decided to Collina signed a sponsor agreement with Opel. Because Opel is also a sponsor A.C. Milan, the approval is deemed to constitute a case of collusion and Collina not allowed to referee matches in the Italian top again. Collina on the other side responded effectively resigned and retired as a referee.


Although Collina is generally associated with football, his favorite sports club is a club basketball. He is a supporter of Fortitudo Bologna, one of Europe's premier club. After resigning from the profession as a referee, he admitted that he was a supporter of SS Lazio.


In December 2006, he was appointed as a consultant Italian League Referees Association. He helped the Italian League Referee Chairman Cesare Gussoni. Since retiring, he worked as a financial advisor.