Collina can carry on refereeing
Top referee Pierluigi Collina will be allowed to carry on in domestic football for another year, the Italian football federation has confirmed.
Collina, 45, was due to retire this summer, but the sport's authorities have agreed to raise the maximum age for officials to 46.
The distinctive bald-headed referee can now handle Italian league and Champions League matches up to 30 June next year.
But he will be ruled out of officiating at the 2006 World Cup.
Collina has been voted world referee of the year five times and has been a referee for 28 years.
The pinnacle of his career was when he officiated at the 2002 World Cup final between Brazil and Germany.
Collina ruled out of World Cup
Italian referee Pierluigi Collina will not officiate at the 2006 World Cup finals in Germany, according to a top Uefa official.
Volker Roth, head of the referees' committee for Uefa, said rules on age ruled out the man widely considered to be the world's top match official.
Collina will be over Fifa's age limit of 45 when the 2006 World Cup begins.
"We must abide by the rules," said Roth, adding: "We will be able to find a good replacement for Collina."
Roth admitted that Collina was "something special" but insisted: "We have so many good referees from all over the world."
The distinctive bald-headed Italian refereed the 2002 World Cup final in Yokohama, where Brazil beat Germany 2-0.
