The Most Famous
REFEREES from Italy
This page contains a list of the greatest Italian Referees. The pantheon dataset contains 147 Referees, 8 of which were born in Italy. This makes Italy the birth place of the 3rd most number of Referees behind United Kingdom, and Germany.
Top 9
The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary Italian Referees of all time. This list of famous Italian Referees is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity.
1. Pierluigi Collina (b. 1960)
With an HPI of 67.54, Pierluigi Collina is the most famous Italian Referee. His biography has been translated into 47 different languages on wikipedia.
Pierluigi Collina (Italian pronunciation: [ˌpjɛrluˈiːdʒi kolˈliːna]; born 13 February 1960) is an Italian former football referee. He was named "The World's Best Referee" by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics six consecutive times from 1998 to 2003. Collina is still involved in football as an unpaid consultant to the Italian Football Referees Association (AIA), the Head of Referees for the Football Federation of Ukraine since 2010, a member of the UEFA Referees Committee, and Chairman of the FIFA referees committee.
2. Roberto Rosetti (b. 1967)
With an HPI of 50.48, Roberto Rosetti is the 2nd most famous Italian Referee. His biography has been translated into 31 different languages.
Roberto Rosetti (born 18 September 1967) is an Italian former football referee. He is fluent in Italian (native), English and French. He started refereeing in 1983, and took charge of his first match in the Italian Serie A in 1996. He received his FIFA Badge in 2002. Aside from his refereeing duties, Rosetti works as director of a hospital. Rosetti is counted amongst the top referees of all time in a list maintained by the International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS). He retired following the 2010 FIFA World Cup to take a position with the Italian Football Federation as the referee designator for Serie B League. Luciano Moggi, then general director of Juventus, had described Rosetti and his colleague Pierluigi Collina as being too 'objective' in an intercepted telephone call. Moggi also claimed that Rosetti and Collina should be 'punished' for decisions made against Juventus in that same phonecall. Rosetti is currently the Chief Refereeing Officer and Chairman of the Referees Committee at UEFA.
3. Nicola Rizzoli (b. 1971)
With an HPI of 50.31, Nicola Rizzoli is the 3rd most famous Italian Referee. His biography has been translated into 40 different languages.
Nicola Rizzoli (Italian pronunciation: [niˈkɔːla ritˈtsɔːli]; born 5 October 1971) is an Italian former football referee who refereed in the Italian Serie A from 2002 to 2017 and was a FIFA-listed referee from 2007 to 2017. He refereed the 2014 FIFA World Cup Final between Germany and Argentina on 13 July at the Estádio do Maracanã and the 2013 Champions League Final between Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich at Wembley Stadium. Rizzoli won seven consecutive AIC Serie A Referee of the Year Awards from 2011 to 2017. On 18 February 2017, Soccer 360 included Rizzoli on its list of the top 5 referees in the 21st century.
4. Sergio Gonella (1933 - 2018)
With an HPI of 49.65, Sergio Gonella is the 4th most famous Italian Referee. His biography has been translated into 18 different languages.
Sergio Gonella (Italian pronunciation: [ˈsɛrdʒo ɡoˈnɛlla]; 23 May 1933 – 19 June 2018) was an Italian bank manager and association football referee. He was the first ever Italian appointed to referee the final of the FIFA World Cup which occurred when he took charge of the 1978 final between hosts Argentina and the Netherlands. He is one of only two persons (the other being the Swiss Gottfried Dienst) to have refereed the finals of both the UEFA European Championship and the FIFA World Cup. In 2013, he was inducted into the Italian Football Hall of Fame.
5. Daniele Orsato (b. 1975)
With an HPI of 48.34, Daniele Orsato is the 5th most famous Italian Referee. His biography has been translated into 32 different languages.
Daniele Orsato (born 23 November 1975) is an Italian retired football referee. Over his career, which spanned three decades, Orsato refereed a UEFA Champions League final and received accolades from the International Federation of Football History & Statistics.
6. Pierluigi Pairetto (b. 1952)
With an HPI of 46.32, Pierluigi Pairetto is the 6th most famous Italian Referee. His biography has been translated into 17 different languages.
Pierluigi Pairetto (born 15 July 1952 in Turin) is an Italian former football referee. Among the many prestigious games he officiated were the Euro 96 final between Germany and the Czech Republic at Wembley, and the classic USA 94 second-round clash between Romania and Argentina in Pasadena. He held the position of Italian vice chairman of the UEFA Referees Committee until the summer of 2006, when it was discovered that he had been in regular telephone contact with Juventus FC chief executive Luciano Moggi regarding which referees would be selected for 2004–05 Serie A fixtures. As a result of his involvement in this scandal, he initially received a ban of two years and six months from football, although this was later increased to three and a half years.
7. Gianluca Rocchi (b. 1973)
With an HPI of 39.33, Gianluca Rocchi is the 7th most famous Italian Referee. His biography has been translated into 27 different languages.
Gianluca Rocchi (Italian: [dʒanˈluːka ˈrɔkki]; born 25 August 1973) is an Italian former football referee.
8. Paolo Tagliavento (b. 1972)
With an HPI of 35.61, Paolo Tagliavento is the 8th most famous Italian Referee. His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.
Paolo Tagliavento (Italian pronunciation: [ˈpaːolo taʎʎaˈvɛnto]; born 19 September 1972) is a former Italian association football referee officiated in the Serie A and UEFA competitions; namely the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League.
9. Stefano Farina (1962 - 2017)
With an HPI of 34.74, Stefano Farina is the 9th most famous Italian Referee. His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.
Stefano Farina (19 September 1962 – 23 May 2017) was an Italian association football referee.
People
Pantheon has 9 people classified as Italian referees born between 1933 and 1975. Of these 9, 7 (77.78%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Italian referees include Pierluigi Collina, Roberto Rosetti, and Nicola Rizzoli. The most famous deceased Italian referees include Sergio Gonella, and Stefano Farina. As of April 2024, 1 new Italian referees have been added to Pantheon including Stefano Farina.
Living Italian Referees
Go to all Rankings
Pierluigi Collina
1960 - Present
HPI: 67.54
Roberto Rosetti
1967 - Present
HPI: 50.48
Nicola Rizzoli
1971 - Present
HPI: 50.31
Daniele Orsato
1975 - Present
HPI: 48.34
Pierluigi Pairetto
1952 - Present
HPI: 46.32
Gianluca Rocchi
1973 - Present
HPI: 39.33
Paolo Tagliavento
1972 - Present
HPI: 35.61
