Roberto Rosetti

Infobox Person
name = Roberto Rosetti


caption =
birth_date = birth date and age|1967|9|18
birth_place = Pecetto Torinese, Turin, Italy
death_date =
death_place =
height = height|m=1.90
weight = 84 kg
occupation = Football referee, director of hospital
nationality = flagicon|ITA Italian

Roberto Rosetti (born September 18, 1967 in Pecetto Torinese, Piedmont, Italy) is a top Italian football referee. he is fluent in Italian, English and French.

Rosetti started refereeing in 1983, and took charge of his first match in the Italian Serie A in 1996. He received his FIFA Badge in 2002. [http://www.ratetheref.net/ref/view/42/roberto-rosetti Rate The Ref - Roberto Rosetti]

Rosetti refereed the UEFA Champions League semi-final between Chelsea and Liverpool at Stamford Bridge on April 30, 2008, earning the praise of UK television and radio commentators for his control of the game.

Rosetti works as the director of a hospital outside of football [ [http://www.euro2008.uefa.com/MultimediaFiles/Download/PressConference/Competitions/MediaServices/68/51/03/685103_DOWNLOAD.pdf Factsheet 2 - Korrektur ] ] , and enjoys tennis and reading. [ [http://www.ratetheref.net/ref/view/42/roberto-rosetti Rate The Ref - Rate Referee’s Performance in Euro 2008, Premier League, Champions League, UEFA Cup and World Cup campaigns ] ]

2006 FIFA World Cup

Rosetti was selected to referee at the 2006 FIFA World Cup. He was one of only 23 2006 FIFA World Cup officials. The normal number is 30. [ [http://english.people.com.cn/200604/01/eng20060401_255164.html FIFA names just 23 referees for 2006 World Cup] , Xinhua, April 1, 2006]

He was invited to referee the 2006 FIFA World Cup at the last minute, after another referee was unable to participate because of injury. He was to be the second Italian referee, but the other Italian, Massimo De Santis, was removed by the Italian Football Federation due to an ongoing investigation into the Serie A scandal of 2006. He was the tallest referee in the World Cup at 1.90m (6ft 3ins). His assistant referees at the 2006 World Cup were Cristiano Copelli and Alessandro Stagnoli.

On June 28th, Rosetti was chosen as one of the last 12 referees who could officiate the final eight games of the World Cup 2006. He didn't actually officiate any of these matches, since the presence of four European teams in the semi-finals forced the organizers to choose non-European referees, but his selection was considered to be a significant honor for a last minute replacement. Rosetti handed out an average of 3.75 cards per match, the second lowest of all referees in the tournament.

Games officiated in the 2006 World Cup

Group:
*Paraguay 2 – 0 Trinidad & Tobago
*Argentina 6 – 0 Serbia and Montenegro
*Mexico 3 – 1 Iran

Round of Sixteen:
*France 3 - 1 Spain

2006 Italian match-fixing scandal

Rosetti was untainted by the match-fixing scandal which affected Italian football in 2006.

Luciano Moggi, then general director of Juventus, had described Rosetti and his fellow colleague Pierluigi Collina as being too 'objective' in an intercepted telephone call, implying that they had refused to accept probable bribes. Moggi also claimed that Rosetti and Collina should be 'punished' for decisions made against Juventus in that same phonecall. [http://worldreferee.com/site/copy.php?linkID=44&linkType=referee&contextType=bio WorldReferee.com - Roberto Rosetti]

Rosetti emerged from the scandal unscathed, with the intercepted phone call a glowing testament to his impartiality and credibility as a referee.

Euro 2008

Rosetti was selected to referee at UEFA Euro 2008 in Switzerland and Austria. [ [http://en.euro2008.uefa.com/news/kind=1/newsid=639895.html Referees named for EURO 2008] , uefa.com, December 19, 2007]

At the tournament, Rosetti was the referee for the:
* group A opening game between Switzerland and the Czech Republic;
* group D game between Greece and Russia;
* Quarter Final match between Croatia and Turkey;
* Final match between Germany and Spain.

Quarter Final: Croatia vs. Turkey

Rosetti was chosen to officiate the quarter final clash between Turkey and Croatia. He became the centre of controversy during the end of the game. When Ivan Klasnic scored in the 119th minute of extra time, Rosetti then trailed the game 2 minutes over the time limit regulations which eventually lead to Turkey equalizing with the final kick of the game. Furthermore, opposing manager Slaven Bilic claimed to be signalling for a substitution which was waved away twice by Rosetti, which Bilic described as an unfair treatment, despite congratulating Turkey on their victory in the penalty shootout.

Croatian newspapers were delighted with the appointment of Rosetti initially. Rosetti, whose mother is Croatian coincidentally, was the subject of headlines such as “Will Rosetti be our 12th player against Turkey?” and “Croatian will umpire the Croatia’s quarterfinal match”.http://sport.apa.az/en/news.php?id=29016]

References

External links

* [http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/06/en/w/ref/187122_ROSETTI_Roberto.html FIFA profile]
* [http://worldcup.reuters.com/referee/rosetti.html Reuters profile]
* [http://www.ratetheref.net/ref/view/42/roberto-rosetti Profile on ratetheref.net]