Diego De Leo

Diego De Leo was one of the best-known referees in the world, and also one of the first professional referees. Uniquely, he represented four different national associations during his international career; Brazil (1954-59), Chile (1959-63), Perù (1963-64) and finally, Mexico (1964-71).

De Leo was born in northern Italy, and after World War II joined the Italian Association of Referees (AIA) in Maestre, a region that also provided other top-class referees like Gino Rigato, linesman at 1960 Roma Olympics, and Aurelio Angonese, 1974 FIFA World Cup referee. After two years in Argentina, de Leo returned to Italy to make his début as a Serie A referee and, between November 1951 and May 1954, officiated in 36 ‘top flight’ matches. After contacting the future FIFA President Joao Havelange in 1954, de Leo got a post officiating in the South American country where he won his FIFA international badge. During his time in Chile, de Leo worked on the re-organising of the country’s referees in advance of the 1962 World Cup. It was during his time in Mexico that de Leo made his Olympic début, officiating in the petulant final between Hungary and Bulgaria which saw de Leo send off four players. Two years later, at the World Cup in Mexico, he refereed the group match between Romania and Czechoslovakia, and was also linesman in the England – Romania game.

After finishing his active career, de Leo was a FIFA referees instructor (1971-73) and was the recipient of a FIFA “Special Award”. In 1971 he wrote a book entitled Regole del Calcio (Rules of Football), and after returning to Italy, became an observer of Serie A referees and also worked in a similar capacity for UEFA and FIFA, until 1991.