Referee Collina to retire in 2005
ROME, Italy (Reuters) -- Football will bid "arrivederci" to top referee Pierluigi Collina next year when he will be forced to retire under Italian regulations.
"Next June, when I turn 45, I will retire, as the rules oblige me to do," Collina was quoted by news agency Ansa on Monday.
"Of course, deciding this on the basis of your identity papers is a bit arbitrary. But I will comply. Referees are men of rules."
Collina, praised for his handling of the 2002 World Cup final between Brazil and Germany after a tournament plagued by refereeing controversy, is set for his international swansong at Euro 2004.
The authorities, however, will face enormous pressure to bend the rules and allow one of the game's most instantly recognizable faces to stay on the pitch.
Under Italian Referees Association regulations professional referees must stand down at the age of 45 unless the president makes an exception. No one at the association was available to comment.
Collina, who celebrates his 44th birthday next month, pointed to players who continued competing despite reaching veteran status.
"There are some players that are fantastic role-models, like (Dino) Zoff and (Roberto) Baggio, who continued playing at the highest level defying expectations," he said. Zoff, past his 40th birthday, kept goal for Italy when they won the 1982 World Cup in Spain.
Collina has the reputation of a no-nonsense official who has often been handed difficult matches, most recently England's fractious Euro 2004 qualifier with Turkey. Repeatedly voted the world's best referee, he was named Italy's top football official last week for the second year in a row.
Collina, a multi-lingual financial consultant with a degree in economics, started playing soccer as a teenager and admits to being shown the red card once or twice.
He stumbled into refereeing while recovering from injury.
Moving through the divisions, Collina refereed his first Serie A match in December 1991 and soon acquired the nickname 'Kojak' after the bald American television detective.
He presided over the football final at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and was in charge of a dramatic 1999 European Cup final between Manchester United and Bayern Munich in Barcelona.
But his official Web site reveals a curious fact. His favorite team does not play soccer -- he is first and foremost a basketball fan.
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