The World Cup final in Moscow was exactly a month ago, when Argentine Nestor Pitana refereed the match between France and Croatia. A month passed, but not without some rumours because, after the refereeing success of the Russian tournament and, above all, the introduction of VAR, Pierluigi Collina decided to leave UEFA, remaining only at the command of the FIFA Referees Committee. Not an easy choice and who knows whether it was linked to the UEFA decision not to use VAR or even to the Real Madrid – Juventus match in the Champions League, when Andrea Agnelli asked for his resignation on live TV. After the UEFA press release from Nyon, in which "personal reasons" were invoked, Collina also received several messages from those who feared there was something else behind this decision: "I am fine, it was simply my choice because the time for change has arrived".
- It is nice to hear that from neutral observers and football fans. After Euro 2016 it was said that the moral winner had been the refereeing team, the same happened after Russia 2018. Not a random result, because nothing at this level is just a coincidence. The process started four years ago, immediately after the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, with the first selection of candidates and then with a long series of seminars, where each detail was treated with the utmost care.
- Could you give us some examples?
- For example, we organized a friendly tournament at the beginning of June in Moscow, so referees do not lose the form between the end of their championships and the start of the World Cup. This had never been done before. When I was still an active referee, I asked for officiating games in Serie B to keep my form. Then I want also to mention the confirmation of the importance of our match-analysts, experts who have studied teams and players to offer technical and tactical input to referees.
- How do you identify the best referees from all the continents?
- Knowing that nowadays there are digital platforms that allow you to see and study everything, when Infantino wanted me to join FIFA, I suggested, first of all, that it should not be political members in the referees committee but only technicians, former referees and in particular refereeing heads of the six confederations. In a short time we will start again the road to Qatar 2022, when many of the 2018 World Cup referees will be out from selection due to age reasons.
- Where could you find good referees for the future?
- Not only in Europe or South America. Other continents are developing as well. For example, Iranian Faghani has made a World Cup at very high level and also the Senegalese Diedhiou was among the best referees.
- Can we say that you worked as a "group" in Russia, along with Busacca, Rosetti and Boban?
- Boban did not have a direct involvement, but as FIFA Deputy Secretary, we wanted him to stay with us, deciding from the first day to stay in our hotel. This pleased me because the refereeing team is one of the best "national teams" for FIFA. He stayed with us, without interfering in our choices, but at the same time never lacking support, helping us when we asked for something for referees.
- You, Busacca and Rosetti are colleagues.
- We shared our daily work with Massimo, starting from 10 km of running in the morning to stay in shape and then the management and the assignments, always in agreement. Together we worked very well. I chose Rosetti as VAR expert for this World Cup. If UEFA would have not appointed him when I resigned as Chief Refereeing Officer, I would have assigned Roberto a very important and central role for refereeing in FIFA; this had already been planned in any case.
- Is there anything at this moment that can be studied to improve refereeing?
- In the last 10 years many things had been done; today's referees are really prepared, as it was never before, their knowledge of the game is at a very high level and physically they are real athletes, so that today we need to work more on injury prevention. For sure, there is always room for improvement. I would like to see referees being more reactive to the changes in football, so that they could adapt their style faster.
- Is the non-use of VAR in Champions League be the reason of your departure from UEFA?
- Everything has been said, even that I would have promoted the VAR development with FIFA and the slowdown with UEFA; obviously this is not the case. FIFA immediately believed in it and started the preparation much sooner, but there are some differences: so far, VAR has been used in championships and tournaments played within only one country. Trying to use VAR in the Champions League, where matches are being played in many countries and with many broadcasters, is surely more complicated. But I am sure that UEFA will make the decision to implement it and referees will find themselves ready for the use of technology.
- Has anyone asked for your resignation?
- No, when I informed UEFA, they asked me to change my decision.
- What about your relationships with Infantino and Ceferin?
- With Infantino we shared the idea and the project to change the refereeing in Europe. I still remember the very long phone calls at the beginning of 2010 when we discussed what was necessary to do to improve the performance of the referees. Then, once he became FIFA president, he wanted me to join his team. The evening of the World Cup final he came to our hotel to celebrate the success with all referees. I am grateful to Ceferin because he gave me his full trust, by confirming my role, when he was elected as new UEFA president.
- Is there any risk that top referees, being used to VAR, could have trouble to return to "human referees"?
- VAR gives you more peace of mind; it does not make you change the way you referee. On the pitch, the referee will decide in the same manner, and then, in case of a clear mistake, VAR will save him. So, a referee should not change his mind only because he is going to officiate a match with VAR help. It is very important, and I asked for that since the first IFAB meeting in which this topic was discussed (November 2014), that the referee must have the final decision, If there is a fact, for example an offside, no problem, but otherwise it is only the referee who must review the images before deciding. In any case, some officials have been forced to change their usual style.
- Who?
- Assistant referees, who have been told to delay the flag on some occasions, because it is better to score the goal and then evaluate the situation on video, rather than wrongly stopping an action that afterwards turns out to be correct. In Russia, we almost never talked about offside issues. This was an excellent success.
- In short, there is no future in football without VAR?
- I do not think so, partly because people would not understand since we live in an age where everything we do is based on the use of technology. We tried years ago to reduce errors with the human eye, with the additional assistant referees, but then the technology did not allow today's precision. Nowadays, it is even improving: before the World Cup we went from a 2D to a 3D evaluation for offside that is necessary to evaluate more accurately the position of a foot compared to a head.
- Would you have liked to use VAR when you were still a referee?
- Nobody is happy when making mistakes and then being criticized for that. Of course, for those who used to decide by themselves it is not easy, but you have to be open to change, in the end what matters is the final result.
Source: La Gazzetta dello Sport
