MIAMI—Few people understand the pressure of making a split-second decision in front of billions of viewers better than Pierluigi Collina.
Widely regarded as the greatest football referee of all time, the former Italian official spent more than two decades making calls that could decide World Cup matches, Champions League finals and the careers of players and coaches. Today, as chairman of FIFA's Referees Committee, he is helping shape the next generation of officials through technology that simply did not exist when he was on the field.
Meeting with media in Verizon's suite during the World Cup quarterfinal between France and England in Miami, Collina reflected on how far refereeing has come and why innovations introduced during FIFA World Cup 2026 are changing the game for officials and fans alike.
"I would have loved to have had some of this technology during my career," Collina said to this reporter, acknowledging that while no system can eliminate every controversial decision, today's tools dramatically reduce the chances of game-changing mistakes.
That evolution was on full display throughout the tournament thanks in part to Verizon, FIFA's Official Telecommunications Services Partner. Beyond branding inside the stadiums, the company powered one of the World Cup's most talked-about innovations: the Referee View, which allowed fans to experience matches from the official's perspective through Lenovo body cameras connected by Verizon's private 5G network.
The technology offered something television viewers had never experienced during a FIFA World Cup. Instead of judging a referee's decision from the comfort of a broadcast angle, fans could see exactly what the official saw in real time, revealing how little time referees have to process tackles, offsides and potential fouls while navigating 22 players moving at full speed.
For Collina, the new perspective does more than create compelling television, as it also serves as a powerful training tool.
"Everybody in the world can see now whats happening everywhere in the field, except the person who really needs to know: the referee. That is why we welcome the technology." he said.
Referees can review positioning, decision-making and sightlines after matches, while fans gain a better understanding of just how difficult officiating at the highest level really is.
It is a remarkable transformation for a profession that has often been remembered more for its mistakes than its successes.
Football history is filled with controversial decisions that still spark debate decades later. Diego Maradona's infamous "Hand of God" goal at the 1986 World Cup, Frank Lampard's disallowed goal against Germany in 2010 despite the ball clearly crossing the line, Thierry Henry's handball that helped France qualify for the 2010 World Cup, and Carlos Tevez's offside goal against Mexico are just a few examples of incidents that fueled calls for technological assistance.
Many of those moments would almost certainly have been decided differently under today's systems, which combine VAR, goal-line technology, semi-automated offside detection and increasingly sophisticated camera angles.
Even so, Collina believes technology should never replace the referee.
Instead, it should support officials by providing better information while preserving the human element that has always been part of football.
That philosophy has guided FIFA's steady expansion of officiating technology over the past decade, culminating in this year's World Cup, where fans were given an unprecedented window into the referee's experience.
Verizon's role extended well beyond the Referee View. The company's network infrastructure helped support communications and operations across tournament venues, demonstrating how telecommunications have become as essential to staging a modern World Cup as the stadiums themselves.
Away from the pitch, Verizon also used football's biggest stage to spotlight small businesses across the United States.
Through its Verizon Small Business Digital Ready program, the company has provided free training, AI-powered business resources and expert coaching to more than 600,000 entrepreneurs, including thousands of Latino-owned businesses. During the tournament, Verizon also hosted its Small Business Super Pitch competition, awarding the winning entrepreneur a $20,000 prize and tickets to the FIFA World Cup Final.
For Collina, however, the lasting legacy of this World Cup may be something much simpler.
For the first time, millions of fans could experience a match not from the stands or a television camera, but through the eyes of the person responsible for making the game's toughest decisions.
And perhaps, after seeing just how difficult that job really is, they may think twice before blaming the referee.
