Nicola Rizzoli
Nicola Rizzoli ( born October 5, 1971 in Mirandola ) is an Italian football referee, who has since 2002 games in Serie A since 2007 and is on the FIFA list.
He directed his first Champions League qualifier in August 2007 and whistled his first Champions League group stage game in a 2-0 win for Sporting Lisbon over FC Basel on 1 October 2008. In September 2007, Rizzoli officiated for the first time in an international match. In Cologne, the German national team defeated the team from Romania in a friendly match 3-1.
Full-time Rizzoli has worked as an architect.
Rizzoli was promoted in June 2009 in the elite group of the UEFA Referees, which means that he is qualified regularly for the management of the top matches of the UEFA. On April 7, 2010 Rizzoli led the Champions League quarter- final second leg match between Manchester United and Bayern Munich.
On 12 May 2010 he conducted in Hamburg, the final of the UEFA Europa League final between Atletico Madrid and FC Fulham.
In the years 2011 and 2012, Rizzoli was Italy's referee of the year.
On 20 December 2011, UEFA announced that Rizzoli has been nominated as one of the twelve referees who will lead the games in the European Football Championship 2012.
Rizzoli launched on 25 May 2013, the final of the UEFA Champions League 2012/13 between Borussia Dortmund and FC Bayern Munich at London's Wembley Stadium.