Pierluigi Collina was not called the “Supreme Football Judge” for nothing; he earned his fame and the respect of fans and footballers alike with his sharp eyes, strict determination and heated enthusiasm in every match.
It’s not uncommon for good matches to be killed and turned one-sided by unfair black-shirt kings these days. People don’t come to stadiums to watch acts of bullying. They want fair fights; that’s why they miss the legendary referee, whose mere appearance ensured absolutely fair matches back in his day. Pierluigi Collina was not called the “Supreme Football Judge” for nothing; he earned his fame and the respect of fans and footballers alike with his sharp eyes, strict determination and heated enthusiasm in every match.
Rarely in the history of football has there been a referee with such power and reputation, and even more rarely has there been one so loved. Collina earned his place in the flow of football throughout the years, match after match, with his swift, strict, and just decisions. His hairless head and sharp, cold eyes have become the sign of a good referee, and he is looked up to as a master by many young referees. He made few mistakes, and when he did, he was never criticized, for those mistakes never made any unfair impact on his games.
Collina was proclaimed “World’s Best Referee” by FIFA six times in a row. He is the world’s best referee for life in the heart of all true football fans. When he was still blowing the whistle, he appeared in every major games of the Series A, the Champions League, and the World Cup. In every one of those matches, he kept the scale of justice balanced, earning the respect of not only the victors, but also the defeated.
Collina was an Italian, but he never let that interfere with his decisions. The Italian Association of Referees even let him hold the whistle for one more year after he retired, paying tribute to one of the icons of the sport. The world of football that it was not ready to part ways with one of its greatest judges, the icon who never kicked a ball.
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| His hairless head and sharp, cold eyes have become the sign of a good referee. |
Much and more has changed in the job of football referees since Collina’s retirement. Camera technologies are now widely used, reducing the odds of a referee making crucial misjudgments, but nothing can make true fans forget the image of a bald, sharp-eyed man running tirelessly across the field, blowing the whistle with an calm, unbiased mind. Football has yet to find a referee worthy to become Collina’s replacement, and since his retirements, major matches all seemed to have become somehow…imperfect. Collina had a long career and did make a few mistakes here and there, but that didn’t matter, because he was and will always be loved, respected and remembered by football fans everywhere.
Stars rise and fall, as they always have, but Pierluigi Collina seems to be an exception. Ten years have passed since he hung his whistle, and we have yet to find for him a worthy successor. He will be missed by all, and loved even by the generations of football fans that adopted the game after he had left.
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