During his teenage years, he played as a centre-back for a local team, but was persuaded in 1977 to take a referee's course, where it was discovered that he had a particular aptitude for the job.

Around this time, Collina developed a severe form of alopecia, resulting in the permanent loss of all his facial hair, giving him his distinctive bald appearance and earning the nickname Kojak.

He refereed the 1999 UEFA Champions League final between Bayern Munich and Manchester United; he cited this as his most memorable game because of the cheers at the end, which he described as a "lions' roar".

[5] In June 2002, Collina reached the pinnacle of his career, when he was chosen to officiate the World Cup final, between Brazil and Germany.

Prior to the game, Germany's Oliver Kahn told the Irish Times: "Collina is a world-class referee, there's no doubt about that, but he doesn't bring luck, does he?"

His last international match was Portugal against Slovakia, a 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifier at Estádio da Luz in Lisbon.

As Opel was also a sponsor of Serie A club A.C. Milan, the deal was seen as a conflict of interest and Collina was not allowed to referee top-flight matches in Italy.

Collina attracted the ire of Luciano Moggi, the Juventus executive and chief instigator of the 2006 Italian football scandal.

[14] On 25 January 2010, Collina participated in a special match for supporting victims of the earthquake in Haiti between a team called "Friends of Zidane and Ronaldo" and Benfica in Lisbon.

[21] Collina's easily-recognisable face (to followers of football) also led to his appearance in an advert for the Vauxhall Vectra on UK television during the 2006 World Cup.

In addition, he featured as an "unlockable" referee in the rival EA Sports game FIFA Football 2005, released shortly before Pro Evolution Soccer 4.