Davide Massa (born 15 July 1981) is an Italian

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

referee who officiates in

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

. He has been a

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

referee since 2014, and is ranked as a

UEFA The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...

elite category referee.

Refereeing career

In 2011 he began officiating in

. His first match as referee was on 23 January 2011 between

Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Florence, Tuscany. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while ...

and

Lecce Lecce (; ) is a city in southern Italy and capital of the province of Lecce. It is on the Salentine Peninsula, at the heel of the Italian Peninsula, and is over two thousand years old. Because of its rich Baroque architecture, Lecce is n ...

. In 2014, he was put on the FIFA referees list. He officiated his first senior international match on 8 June 2015 between

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

and

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

. In 2017, he was selected to officiate the

2017 Supercoppa Italiana The 2017 Supercoppa Italiana was the 30th edition of the Supercoppa Italiana. It was played on 13 August 2017 in Rome, Italy. With Juventus FC, Juventus winning both the 2016–17 Serie A championship and the 2016–17 Coppa Italia, the game was pl ...

between

Juventus Juventus Football Club (; from , ), commonly known as Juventus or colloquially as Juve (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Turin, Piedmont, who compete in Serie A, the ...

and

Lazio Lazio ( , ; ) or Latium ( , ; from Latium, the original Latin name, ) is one of the 20 Regions of Italy, administrative regions of Italy. Situated in the Central Italy, central peninsular section of the country, it has 5,714,882 inhabitants an ...

. Massa was selected as a referee for the

2017 UEFA European Under-19 Championship The 2017 UEFA European Under-19 Championship (also known as UEFA Under-19 Euro 2017) was the 16th edition of the UEFA European Under-19 Championship (66th edition if the Under-18 and Junior eras are included), the annual international youth footba ...

in Georgia and the

2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup The 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the 22nd edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup, the biennial international men's youth football championship contested by the under-20 national teams of the member associations of FIFA, since its inception in 1977 a ...

in Poland. He has also officiated matches in the

2016–17 Qatar Stars League The 2016–17 Qatari League, also known as Qatari Stars League, is the 44th edition of top-level football championship in Qatar. The season began on 15 September 2016 and concluded on 27 April 2017. Al-Rayyan are the defending champions having ...

2017–18 Egyptian Premier League The 2017–18 Egyptian Premier League (also known as the Telecom Egypt Premier League for sponsorship reasons) was the 59th season of the Egyptian Premier League, the top Egyptian professional league for association football clubs, since its estab ...

and 2022-23

Greek Super League The Super League Greece 1 (), or Stoiximan Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Greece and the highest level of the Greek football league system. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and repla ...

. On 4 April 2023, Massa was criticised for his decisions at Coppa Italia first leg match against Inter Milan and Juventus. First, he sent off Inter's

Romelu Lukaku Romelu Lukaku Bolingoli (; born 13 May 1993) is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as a Striker (association football), striker for club SSC Napoli, Napoli and the Belgium national football team, Belgium national team. Lukaku began h ...

after celebrating his late equalizer. Lukaku was subject of racist chants during the match. He celebrated his goal with a "silencing the crowd" gesture where Massa evidently saw it as inciting the crowd. After the match ends, he sent off Inter goalkeeper's

Samir Handanović Samir Handanović (born 14 July 1984) is a Slovenian former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper. Since August 2024, he is the head coach of Inter Milan's Inter Milan Youth Se ...

and Juventus's

Juan Cuadrado Juan Guillermo Cuadrado Bello (born 26 May 1988) is a Colombian professional Association football, footballer who plays for club Atalanta BC, Atalanta and the Colombia national football team, Colombia national team. He usually plays on the righ ...

after they degenerate into a brawl. Afterwards, former Serie A referee Luca Marelli criticized Massa's decisions to send off Lukaku while Italian newspaper Corriere dello Sport suggest that Massa failed to keep a lid on things. Weeks later, on 23 April 2023, Massa refereed the

derby

Olympiacos CFP Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós (, Olympic Association of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a number of different competitive departments which participate in Association ...

AEK Athens A.E.K. (; Athlitikí Énosis Konstantinoupόleos, ''Athletic Union of Constantinople'') is a major Greek multi-sport club based in Nea Filadelfeia, Attica. The club is more commonly known in European competitions as A.E.K. Athens. Establishe ...

1-3 which caused huge complaints from the

team with his refereeing, causing the invasion at the end of the match by

team officials, the president of

Evangelos Marinakis Evangelos "Vangelis" Marinakis (Ευάγγελος (Βαγγέλης) Μαρινάκης), born 30 July 1967) is a Greek businessman and investor, the principal shareholder of a number of companies operating in the shipping, Media (communicatio ...

and the fans of Olympiacos who clashed with the Police. After the end of the match, Massa wrote on the match sheet that when he left the field, he felt a hit on his genitals by people he did not recognize. On 5 June 2025, Massa was assigned to referee the Serbia v Albania match in

Tirana Tirana ( , ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in Albania, largest city of Albania. It is located in the centre of the country, enclosed by mountains and hills, with Dajti rising to the east and a slight valley to the northwest ov ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Massa, Davide 1981 births Living people People from Imperia Italian football referees Sportspeople from the Province of Imperia