Sergio Gonella (; 23 May 1933 – 19 June 2018) was an Italian bank manager and association football referee. He was the first ever Italian appointed to referee the final of the

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

which occurred when he took charge of the 1978 final between hosts

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

and

the Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. He is one of only two persons (the other being the

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

Gottfried Dienst Gottfried Dienst (Basel, 9 September 1919 – Bern, 1 June 1998) was a Swiss association football referee. He was mostly known as the referee of the 1966 FIFA World Cup final. Dienst is one of only four men to have twice refereed a European ...

) to have refereed the finals of both the

UEFA European Championship The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro or Euros, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The competition ...

and the

. In 2013, he was inducted into the

Italian Football Hall of Fame The Italian Football Hall of Fame () is the hall of fame for association football players that have had a significant impact on Italian football. It is housed at the '' Museo del Calcio'' in Coverciano, Italy. History and regulations The Hall o ...

Referee career

Gonella's professional career began in 1965 when he debuted in the Italian

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 ...

, earning an early reputation as being very strict and impartial, after awarding 7 penalties in the first 7 games of the 1965–1966 season. In 1972, he was promoted to UEFA and received the important Mauro Award in Italy. In 1974 refereed the Italian Cup final between Bologna and Palermo. In 1975, he refereed the

European Super Cup The UEFA Super Cup is an annual super cup football match organised by UEFA and contested by the winners of the two main European club competitions: the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. The competition's official name was original ...

final match. At international level, he refereed in the 1976 European Championship

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

between Czechoslovakia and West Germany. He also later refereed in the

1978 FIFA World Cup The 1978 FIFA World Cup was the 11th edition of the FIFA World Cup, a Anniversary#Latin-derived numerical names, quadrennial international Association football, football world championship tournament among the men's senior national teams. It wa ...

, after which he retired, having refereed 175 matches in Serie A. From 1998 to 2000 he was also president of the Italian Referee Association (AIA) and member of the UEFA Arbitration Commission between 1998 and 2000. Gonella garnered media attention when he delayed the start of the

final. This occurred when the Argentinians protested an arm cast worn by Dutch player

René van de Kerkhof Reinier Lambertus "René" van de Kerkhof (; born 16 September 1951) is a Dutch former professional footballer who played as a right winger for FC Twente, PSV Eindhoven and the Netherlands national team. Career Van de Kerkhof and his twin bro ...

. The Dutch team argued that the cast was passed by

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 ...

and had already been worn by Van de Kerkhof during earlier matches in the tournament, and they threatened to walk off the field. Finally an extra layer of padding was applied to the cast as a solution, and the match was started.

References

Sergio Gonella 1933 births 2018 deaths Italian football referees FIFA World Cup finals match officials 1978 FIFA World Cup referees People from Asti UEFA Euro 1976 referees UEFA European Championship final referees Sportspeople from the Province of Asti {{Italy-footy-bio-stub