Davide Massa

Davide Massa

Born	(1981-07-15) 15 July 1981 (age 43) Imperia, Italy
Domestic
Years	League	Role
2010–2012	Serie B	Referee
2011–	Serie A	Referee
International
Years	League	Role
2014–	FIFA listed	Referee

Davide Massa (born 15 July 1981) is an Italian football referee who officiates in Serie A. He has been a FIFA referee since 2014, and is ranked as a UEFA elite category referee.^[1]

Refereeing career

In 2011 he began officiating in Serie A. His first match as referee was on 23 January 2011 between Fiorentina and Lecce.^[2] In 2014, he was put on the FIFA referees list. He officiated his first senior international match on 8 June 2015 between Turkey and Bulgaria. In 2017, he was selected to officiate the 2017 Supercoppa Italiana between Juventus and Lazio.^[3]

Massa was selected as a referee for the 2017 UEFA European Under-19 Championship in Georgia and the 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Poland.^[4] He has also officiated matches in the 2016–17 Qatar Stars League, 2017–18 Egyptian Premier League and 2022-23 Greek Super League.

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 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 and Juventus's Juan Cuadrado after they degenerate into a brawl. Afterwards, former Serie A referee Luca Marelli criticized Messa's decisions to send off Lukaku while Italian newspaper Corriere dello Sport suggest that the referee failed to keep a lid on things.^[5][6]

Weeks later, on 23 April 2023, Massa refereed the Greek Super League derby Olympiacos CFP- AEK Athens 1-3 which caused huge complaints from the Olympiacos CFP team with his refereeing, causing the invasion at the end of the match by Olympiacos CFP team officials, the president of Evangelos Marinakis 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.^[7][8]

References

1. "2019 Refereeing International Lists" (PDF). FIFA. 2019. Retrieved 23 December 2019.
2. "Italy » Serie A 2010/2011 » 21. Round » ACF Fiorentina – US Lecce 1:1". WorldFootball.net. Retrieved 23 December 2019.
3. "Italy » Supercoppa 2017 » Final » Juventus – Lazio Roma 2:3". WorldFootball.net. Retrieved 23 December 2019.
4. "List of Appointed Match Officials FIFA U-20 World Cup Poland 2019" (PDF). FIFA.
5. "Serie A Referee-Designator Believes Coppa Italia Referee Right To Send-Off Inter Milan's Lukaku Despite Racism". Yardbarker.com. Retrieved 6 April 2023.
6. "Referee Davide Massa Blamed For Coppa Italia Juventus 1-1 Inter Milan Post-Match Brawl Racism". sempreinter.com. Retrieved 6 April 2023.
7. "Ολυμπιακός – ΑΕΚ 1-3: Ενας Ιταλός "μαφιόζος" (vids)". to10.gr.
8. "Ο Ντάβιντε Μάσα έγραψε στο Φύλλο Αγώνα ότι αισθάνθηκε χτύπημα στα γεννητικά του όργανα στη φυσούνα". sport24.gr.

External links

• Davide Massa referee profile at WorldFootball.net
• Davide Massa referee profile at EU-Football.info

1. "UEFA Referees Categories for the second half of season 2024/25" (PDF).
2. "UEFA Referees Categories for the second half of season 2024/25" (PDF).