The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the event in July 2000. Teams representing 198 national football associations from all six populated continents participated in the qualification process which began in September 2003. Thirty-one teams qualified from this process along with hosts Germany for the finals tournament. It was the second time that Germany staged the competition and the first as a unified country along with the former East Germany with Leipzig as a host city, and the 10th time that the tournament was held in Europe.
Pierluigi Collina is an Italian former football referee. He was named "The World's Best Referee" by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics six consecutive times from 1998 to 2003.
The 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2012 or simply Euro 2012, was the 14th European Championship for men's national football teams organised by UEFA. The final tournament, held between 8 June and 1 July 2012, was co-hosted by Poland and Ukraine, and was won by Spain, who beat Italy in the final at the Olympic Stadium, Kyiv, Ukraine.
Tom Henning Øvrebø is a Norwegian former football referee who has officiated matches in the UEFA Cup and the UEFA Champions League. He's been elected in UEFA's top category of Elite Referee. Øvrebø has worked outside football as a qualified psychologist. His refereeing performance in the 2009 Champions League semi final between Chelsea and Barcelona is widely regarded as one of the worst refereeing performances of all time.
Graham Poll is an English former football referee in the Premier League. With 26 years of experience, he was one of the most prominent referees in English football, often taking charge of the highest-profile games. His final domestic game in a career spanning 1,544 matches was the Championship play-off final on 28 May 2007 between Derby County and West Bromwich Albion.
Howard Melton Webb MBE is an English former professional football referee who officiated primarily in the Premier League from 2003 to 2014, as well as for FIFA as a FIFA international referee from 2005 to 2014.
Martin Atkinson is an English referee coach and retired professional football referee who officiated primarily in the Premier League. He is a member of the West Riding County Football Association.
Calciopoli was a sports scandal in Italy's top professional association football league Serie A and to a lesser extent Serie B. Involving various clubs and numerous executives, both from the same clubs and from the main Italian football bodies, as well as some referees and referee assistants, the scandal was uncovered in May 2006, when a number of telephone tappings showed relations between clubs' executives and referee organizations during the football seasons of 2004–05 and 2005–06, being accused of selecting favourable referees. This implicated league champions Juventus and several other clubs, including Fiorentina, Lazio, Milan, and Reggina. In July 2006, Juventus was stripped of the 2004–05 Serie A title, which was left unassigned, and was downgraded to last place in the 2005–06 Serie A, as the title was subsequently awarded to Inter Milan, and relegated to Serie B. In July 2006, the Italy national football team won the 2006 FIFA World Cup, beating the France national football team 5–3 in a penalty shoot-out following a 1–1 draw at the conclusion of extra time; eight Juventus players were on the football pitch in the 2006 FIFA World Cup final, five for Italy and three for France. Many prison sentences were handed out to sporting directors and referees but all were acquitted in 2015, after almost a decade of investigation, due to the expiration of the statute of limitations, except for a one-year sentence confirmed to referee Massimo De Santis.
Marco Antonio Rodríguez Moreno is a Mexican former football referee.
Massimo Busacca is a Swiss former football referee. He lives in Monte Carasso, Ticino, near Bellinzona.
Luis Medina Cantalejo is a Spanish former football referee.
The 2006 FIFA World Cup final was the final match of the 2006 World Cup, the 18th edition of FIFA's competition for national football teams. The match was played at the Olympiastadion in Berlin, Germany, on 9 July 2006, and was contested between Italy and France. The event comprised hosts Germany and 31 other teams who emerged from the qualification phase, organised by the six FIFA confederations. The 32 teams competed in a group stage, from which 16 teams qualified for the knockout stage. En route to the final, Italy finished first in Group E, with two wins and a draw, after which they defeated Australia in the round of 16, Ukraine in the quarter-final and Germany 2–0, in the semi-final. France finished runner-up of Group G with one win and two draws, before defeating Spain in the round of 16, Brazil in the quarter-final and Portugal 1–0 in the semi-final. The final was witnessed by 69,000 spectators in the stadium, with the referee for the match being Horacio Elizondo from Argentina.
Antonio Jesús López Nieto is a former Spanish football referee, who officiated at one FIFA World Cup and during the UEFA Champions League.
Sergio Gonella was an Italian bank manager and association football referee. He was the first ever Italian appointed to referee the final of the FIFA World Cup which occurred when he took charge of the 1978 final between hosts Argentina and the Netherlands. He is one of only two persons to have refereed the finals of both the UEFA European Championship and the FIFA World Cup. In 2013, he was inducted into the Italian Football Hall of Fame.
Michel Jean Maurice Vautrot is a retired football (soccer) referee from France. He is mostly known for officiating five matches in the FIFA World Cup: two in 1982 and three in 1990. He refereed the Club World Cup final in 1983 on National Stadium Tokyo between Hamburg S.V. and Grêmio F.B.P.A. (Brazil). He refereed three matches in the European Championship, one in 1984 and two in 1988, including the final between the Soviet Union and the Netherlands. In addition, he refereed the 1986 European Cup Final between Steaua Bucharest and Barcelona.
Paolo Bergamo is an Italian former football referee. He is better known as the former Italian Football Federation (FIGC) referee designator who was implicated in the 2006 Italian football scandal, and who resigned his position on 4 July 2006.
Anthony Bates is a former English association football referee who operates in the Football League, and previously served as assistant referee for UEFA in the Euro 96 competition. He also refereed the FA Women's Cup Final in 2007. On average, Bates gave a high 4.0 cards per game in the 1998–99 season, the highest so far in his career.
Felix Brych is a German football referee. He referees for SV Am Hart München of the Bavarian Football Association. He is a former FIFA referee and was ranked as a UEFA elite category referee.
This is a record of Italy's results at the FIFA World Cup. Italy is one of the most successful national teams in the history of the World Cup, having won four titles, just one fewer than Brazil. The team was present in 18 out of the 22 tournaments, reaching six finals, a third place and a fourth place.
