Rizzoli to referee 2014 World Cup final

adamhigginsuk
Jul 11, 2014
3 min read

Third time lucky: Rizzoli becomes the third Italian to referee a World Cup final after Sergio Gonella in 1978 and Pierluigi Collina in 2002 (Picture from Fifa.com)

ITALY's Nicola Rizzoli has been confirmed as the referee for the 2014 Fifa World Cup final between Germany and Argentina.

The 42-year-old will take charge of Sunday's global showpiece at the Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro (KO 20:00 BST).

South American side Argentina are bidding to win their first World Cup since 1986 while three-time world champions Germany have not won a major title for 24 years.

It will be the third time the Serie A official oversees an Argentina match at the tournament after handling their 3-2 win over Nigeria in the group stages and their quarter-final victory over Belgium last week.

The qualified architect also took charge of the high-profile contest between Spain and the Netherlands on 13 June as the Dutch ran out 5-1 winners.

With a European team involved, Fifa were expected to appoint an Asian referee with Ravshan Irmatov, of Uzbekistan, seen as the leading candidate although Spain's Carlos Velasco Carballo was also surprisingly mentioned.

England's Howard Webb - the man in the middle for the 2010 final in South Africa - was retained for the final round of fixtures but, with a referee having never been appointed to two World Cup finals in the past, he was never a serious contender.

But chairman of the refereeing committee Jim Boyce said: "We choose the best referees for the best matches, and the Italian will referee the final."

Belgium coach Marc Wilmots claimed Rizzoli had favoured Argentina and Lionel Messi in particular in their last-eight tie.

However, Fifa's head of referees Massimo Busacca said he disregarded the criticism and chose the experienced Italian based on his "quality".

"I think the neutrality of the referees has been there in every game. If we pay attention on every single complaint the coaches make, we will not select any more referees. If you have the best quality, then you should be given the best matches."

The Bologna referee, who has been officiating in the Italian top-flight since 2002, joined the Fifa list in 2007.

His first high-profile appointment was the 2010 Uefa Europa League final where he was in control of Atletico Madrid's 2-1 extra-time win over Premier League side Fulham in Hamburg.

Rizzoli took charge of England’s opening match against France, Portugal’s 2-1 group stage win over Holland and Spain’s quarter-final victory over the French at Euro 2012 in Poland and Ukraine.

He was then selected for the prestigious Champions League final between German rivals Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund at Wembley in 2013.

Rizzoli, one of nine European officials chosen for Brazil, beat off competition from Gianluca Rocchi and Paolo Tagliavento to be Italian’s representative for the tournament after winning the Serie A Referee of the Year for the past three seasons.

He will be assisted by fellow countrymen Renato Faverani and Andrea Stefani, who are both 44 years old, while Carlos Vera from Ecuador will be the fourth official with his linesman Christian Lescano on standby as the reserve official.

Both broadcasters ITV and the BBC will screen the match live on 13 July.