The football federation has told Italys most famous football referee, the bald-headed Pierluigi Collina, who became famous when he refereed the World Cup final match in South Korea in 2002, that he can have one more year on the pitch. The referee was 45 years old in February this year and should have stepped down and taken a desk-bound job as director of referees for the Italian football federation. However, Collina will be allowed to referee international games until the end of 2005 and games in Italy until the end of June 2006. He will not qualify to be a referee at next years World Cup matches to be played in Germany. The charismatic ref has become a personality in Italy and frequently appears on television programmes and in advertisements for products as varied as banking services and Gorgonzola cheese.