Collina supports Platini initiative

UEFA’s head of refereeing, Pierluigi Collina, wants extra match officials to be introduced in football.

Collina – a former referee who officiated in the 2002 FIFA World Cup final – believes additional officials will help improve the game.

But the Italian does not think goal-line technology will help further the game, re-iterating the views held by UEFA president Michel Platini.

“I think the position of the UEFA president Michel Platini is clear to everybody,” Collina said.

“He has repeated many, many times his position. Goal-line technology certainly cannot say one single word about an incident that occurred inside the penalty box.

“Certainly the additional assistant referee could be very helpful in assessing an incident occurring inside the penalty area. Maybe supporting, helping the referee to decide if it was a simulation or not.

“How many set pieces, how many corner kicks, how many free kicks are taken towards the penalty area during a match? On average? 20, 22, 24?

“These are all potential situations where an incident can occur with six, seven, eight players doing something – pulling, pushing, trying to get the best position.

“It’s difficult for one single man to control to focus the attention on all of them. Sharing the control between two is definitely better.”