Born in the town of Belinzona in 1969 Massimo Busacca, who used to play football in a lower division in Ticino, started his career as a referee in 1990 and made it to the first division in 1996 . He got his FIFA badge in 1999 and has been busy on the international stage ever since. He is an Elite Category referee.
Matches
Champions League since 2002, a semi-final in 2008. The final of the UEFA Cup. Qualifiers for Euro 2004 and 2008, qualifiers for the World Cup 2002 and 2006, 2010, even one in Asia (Uzbekistan - Bahrain).
His highest honor so far must have been his final for the Champions League 2008-2009 between Barcelona and Manchester United.
World Cups
Busacca officiated three matches in the first round of the 2006 World Cup finals in Germany. He also refereed in 1 u-17 World Cup, 2 u-20 World Cups and 1 Confederations Cup.
But the 2010 World Cup was going to be his best, we expected a quarter or a semi-final. But that didn't happen, Busacca took charge of the group stage match South Africa - Uruguay in which he sent off a South African player and awarded a penalty to Uruguay, thus angering the hosts who must have complained to FIFA. Busacca was sent home.
Languages
Coming from an Italian-speaking part of Switzerland and working in the Swiss first division, Massimo Busacca is used to speaking Italian, French, German and English.
euro 2008
Well, it was held in his own country, so he was to play an important part in it. Unless the Swiss team got far, of course. They didn't and Busacca got to take charge of 3 matches, 2 in the group stage, and one semi-final. All to somewhat mixed reviews by WorldReferee.com contributors.
style
Unless you are a player, the film "Les Arbitres" is the only way to have a close look at Busacca as a referee. In the film you can see him calling to players (by name) to behave themselves, he tells his 4th man, Ivan Bebek, to shut up and he calls someone "Cazzo". All in all you see a passionate man, if a bit chaotic, who becomes even more sympathetic when you see his face after he hears he isn't going to get the final.
"I'm not God", he says in a match a few times, "I make mistakes".
all international matches this century
Click here. It could be Busacca's religious influence, some sense of forgiveness, but in only 1 out of 9 matches Busacca sends a player off; internationally, that's a low mark.
ref of the year (2nd)
IFHSS world referee of the year 2009, but most of the IFHSS only watch European matches, at WorldReferee he ended second.