Nicola Rizzoli

Who is Nicola Rizzoli?

Nicola Rizzoli is an Italian football referee who has refereed in the Italian Serie A since 2002 and has been a FIFA-listed referee since 2007. When not refereeing, Rizzoli works as an architect.

He refereed his first UEFA Champions League qualifying match in August 2007, and took charge of his first Champions League group stage match, a 2–0 Sporting CP victory over Basel, on 1 October 2008. On 7 April 2010, Rizzoli took charge of the Champions League quarter-final second leg between Manchester United and Bayern Munich. With the score at 3–1 to Manchester United, Rizzoli sent off their right-back, Rafael, for a second bookable offence. Bayern then scored again and won the tie on away goals.

At international level, Rizzoli served as a referee at UEFA Euro 2012 and has officiated in qualifiers for the 2010 and 2014 World Cups.

In May 2013, Rizzoli was selected by UEFA to referee the 2013 Champions League Final at Wembley.

FIFA named Rizzoli to its list of 52 candidate referees for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. Rizzoli was selected, and was the head referee for a group stage match between Spain and the Netherlands.