Pierluigi Collina retired more than 20 years ago, yet he remains the only match official most people on the planet could pick out of a line-up.
These days, the chairman of FIFA's referees committee runs officiating at the biggest sporting event ever staged, and when I met him at FIFA's Miami headquarters, home to the Technology Command Center that acts as the tournament's nerve centre, the famous stare was replaced with a smile.
The eve of the World Cup final between Spain and Argentina is a good time to look back at the tech at this year's tournament. For many fans, this has been the most contentious World Cup in history for officiating — quite a claim given previous tournaments served up the 'Hand of God', David Beckham's red card against Argentina in 1998, and Frank Lampard's 'ghost goal' against Germany in 2010.
So what does the 'world's best referee' (an award Collina won six consecutive times) really think of VAR, and are there some things that tech just can't solve?
After further review...
Unfortunately, humans don't trust humans. They always think there is something wrong.
Pierluigi Collina, FIFA Chief Refereeing Officer
The addition of new technology, enhanced cameras, and connected Lenovo devices at this tournament has been crucial, because when an incident erupts at this World Cup, the first person demanding an explanation is often the FIFA president himself, Gianni Infantino.
“Normally he says, 'What was that?’ I need to answer him, and I have to tell him,” says Collina, who has split his time between watching matches live or following the action in a control room at FIFA's Miami base.
“There are a lot of televisions, connected, listening to everybody,” says Collina, describing pulling up footage to brief Infantino in the moment. In Qatar four years ago, the pair watched all 64 matches together, switching stadiums at half-time. A tournament spread across three huge countries has put paid to that this time around.
The claim that VAR kills the joy of a goal gets short shrift. “The player immediately reacts and celebrates the goal. And then there is a moment of suspense, because there is a check. Goal is checked. And at the end, when the goal is confirmed, there is a second celebration. So basically, the emotion is doubled; it's not reduced.”
“I always prefer a correct decision, even a bit delayed, than something that will be discussed for weeks, months, years,” he says, noting “someone is still discussing about the goal or no goal scored in the 1966 World Cup final in England”.
Raising the VAR
I always prefer a correct decision, even a bit delayed, than something that will be discussed for weeks, months, years.
Pierluigi Collina, FIFA Chief Refereeing Officer
“The only one who did not have that chance was the one who had to make the decision,” he says of the pre-VAR era, when everyone in the stadium could review an incident on a device except the person ruling on it.
“At that time there were two possibilities. One, to make the football match a sort of protected area, in an Amish community like in Pennsylvania, where they still go without technology, nothing. Which was not an option, of course. The other possibility was to give the same tools to the one who was on the field.”
Goal-line technology led the way at the 2014 tournament in Brazil, “because it's impossible for a human being to detect if the ball is over the line or not”. Fans praised goal-line calls yet raged at offside decisions of identical precision. The problem, Collina concluded, was that a human drew the lines.
“Unfortunately, humans don't trust humans. They always think there is something wrong. That's why FIFA started working on a system which would be more automated,” he says. Semi-automated offside followed, its clinical lines evolving into a 3D wall of recognizable player avatars, because a decision on a player fans recognize “is even more trusted”.
You have 20 seconds to comply
When the goal is confirmed, there is a second celebration. So basically, the emotion is doubled; it's not reduced.
Pierluigi Collina, FIFA Chief Refereeing Officer
Those avatars are the work of Lenovo, FIFA's official technology partner, which laser-scanned more than 1,200 players, while VAR itself is run by Hawk-Eye Innovations on Lenovo ThinkStation workstations.
Lenovo AI also powers Referee View, the stabilized bodycam feed that puts viewers inside the referee's run, adapted from Formula 1 to cut camera jitter by up to 60 per cent.
Collina fought his corner on ergonomics. “When you are on the field of play, and you have to run 90 minutes, every gram matters,” he says.
The current head-mounted version “makes referees look like Robocop”, but it beats the chest-rig alternative. “The referee would have used a vest. 35 degrees in New Jersey with a vest, an extra vest would have been a problem.”
The limits of tech
The misconception is we have the technology, and we can provide an answer to everything.
Pierluigi Collina, FIFA Chief Refereeing Officer
In 2002, Collina prepared for the World Cup final by playing a VHS tape “back and forward for basically one day”. His analysts now prep referees with Football AI Pro, the Lenovo and FIFA-built AI crunching 2,000-plus metrics per match for all 48 teams. “I'm a user, so I'm the one who is surprised. It works very well.”
There are some things AI can’t solve, after Collina defended the Brazilian official mocked for his English announcement in the opening game of the tournament. His own pre-match advice is more direct: “I was talking this morning with the referee who is going to referee Brazil-Norway. He is American, and ironically, I told him, if you have to make an announcement, please speak English, not Texan.”
Collina admits technology still has its limits. “Football is a sport of contact, and there is no technology that can assess something like pushing, pulling or so on. The misconception is we have the technology, and we can provide an answer to everything.” Those judgments remain human.
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