There’s no doubt that the most popular sport in the world changes the way we live our lives.  It matters little if you’re a fan or not, it doesn’t matter if you go to the matches or not and it’s even less important if you understand the sport at all.  We need to understand that football goes further than being just “a game” and, in fact, our modern culture is shaped by football in ways we can’t even realize.

Italy is known for a lot of things, like pizza and pastas, gelato, its ancient history of conquest, determination, and its avid explorers who shaped the world and discovered its beauty. But one thing we shouldn’t forget is its amazing football history. Here we present what we think are the top 5 best Italian football players of all times.

Chile vs Italy’s match in 1962, also known as “The Battle of Santiago”, is considered the nastiest match ever and it was refereed by Ken Aston.  Chile and Italy collided on the second group, and they clashed on the second date, by then, an Italian paper had made a note (a rough one, actually) putting down Chile as a country, on the Bologna’s newspaper “Il Resto del Carlino”.

One of the biggest questions football fans (all around the world) have is how much does a football referee earns in the European league? Well, a good salary indeed, technically and on paper, being or not a professional is kind of a big deal there.  In fact, we’re going to use Spain’s salary as a reference for the whole European block, this is the situation there.

The referees and linesmen are the officials who each week come under the scrutiny of the world press. In a game where the financial stakes are so high, the people who managers and players like to blame for poor results are often the officials of the game.