Collina voted referee-of-year for fifth time

Dusseldorf:

Italy's Pierluigi Collina was overwhelmingly voted the world's top football referee for the fifth straight year. The 42-year-old received a record 222 points from experts in 87 countries in the poll conducted by the International Federation of Football and Statistics (IFFHS). Collina is one of the most famous referees in the world, easily recognized for his bald head, and handled the World Cup final won by Brazil against Germany. "It's really been an extraordinary year,'' he said. "Certainly, not everyone gets a chance to officiate a World Cup final - in history few referees have had this privilege". Swiss referee Urs Meier was a distant second with 72 points followed by Kim Milton Nielsen of Denmark. (AP)