Pierluigi Collina affirms the role of technology in football

The retired referee Pierluigi Collina spoke at the Football Talks conference this Friday, defending technology as a crucial step in football for bringing greater transparency to the game.

"We can working better preparing referees, but even that way we cannot compete with this technology. We live in a world where we are surrounded by technology and we cannot avoid it", opened Collina, going on to remember a disallowed goal in the Ukraine vs. England encounter at Euro 2012: "There were some criticisms that the referee was not capable of seeing if the ball crossed the line. Technology proves it did by 2.2 centimeters. 2.2! That is not a margin for humans, but for technology."

To finish, Collina highlighted the importance of preparing referees for officiating over the teams they are allocated: "Every match is different and the referee has to understand the game he/she is refereeing. That way there are no surprises. We have to know about the characteristics of the players, how the teams play and how dead-ball situations will be."