Francesco Francescon

Francesco Francescon’s career as a Serie A referee spanned 14 years from 1959 to 1973. The last of his 197 matches was the game between Atalanta and Juventus on 6 May 1973. He refereed the 1971 Italian Cup final between Torino and A. C. Milan, which resulted in a penalty shoot-out win for Torino.

Francescon was appointed a FIFA international referee in 1964, and officiated in 55 matches, including semi-finals of the three major UEFA club tournaments. He was in charge of the 1970 European Cup semi between Legia Warsaw and Feyenoord, the Fairs Cup semi-final between Goztepe Izmir and Ujpest Dozsa in 1969, and the Cup Winners’ Cup semi between Glasgow Rangers and Bayern München in 1972. Francescon was one of the linesmen for Concetto Lo Bello in the European Cup final between Manchester United and Benfica at Wembley in 1968.

Francescon refereed two matches at the 1972 München Olympics, and was honoured with the two leading Italian referee awards. Firstly, in 1960 he was awarded the Florindo Longagnani trophy (later the Giorgio Bernardi trophy) for being the best novice Italian referee, and in 1968 won the Giovanni Mauro Award as Best Referee of the Year.