Three months after Jose Garcia Aranda became a Refereeing Advisor for the RFU Chairman, Sergey Fursenko, another ex-World Cup referee was hired at the top of Russian football. Former Italian referee Roberto Rosetti has been appointed Director of the Refereeing Department of the Russian Football Union. His contract will be valid until 2015. Rosetti will oversee the entire referee organization and will coordinate the training and development of Russian referees. “Unfortunately, today Russian football lacks trust. Coaches and experts have been repeatedly voicing criticism and negative opinions on refereeing. Therefore, we believed that a foreign – and obviously authoritative – former referee had to become the guarantor of the refereeing impartiality. We found him in Rosetti. He was one of the best football referees in the world. Rosetti has signed a four-year contract with RFU. I was trying for a long time to persuade him to accept our offer, nearly six months. I do not know if Rosetti will come to Russia with the whole family, this is going to be decided by him. He will organize the work of the refereeing department, appoint referees, promote younger referees on the list and prepare them to work at the international level”, said Sergey Fursenko, the President of the Russian Football Union.
Roberto Rosetti, 44, was a FIFA referee between 2002-2010 and was voted by the IFFHS the world’s best referee in 2008, when he did the Euro final, Spain – Germany. He was also named the best Italian referee 4 times in a raw (2006-2009). Rosetti officiated at two World Cups (2006 and 2010), and refereed 3 consecutive UEFA Champions League semi-finals: Chelsea – Liverpool (2008), Arsenal – Manchester (2009) and Bayern – Lyon (2010). He retired in 2010, after the World Cup, and became responsible for Serie B referees in Italy.