Italian Pierluigi Collina  considered as the world's top football referee, is in Malta as a guest of The Economist.

This evening, he will be the guest of honour at a Gala Dinner organised by The Economist at the Malta Hilton.

Collina, who is the UEFA referees chief officer, was last Thursday appointed as FIFA's Referees' Committee Chairman.

So far, it is not yet known whether this new appointment at FIFA will have any effect on his UEFA duties.

Collina had an outstanding career as a football referee. He is considered as the best referee of all time after having been named as Best Referee of the Year by FIFA six times from 1998 to 2003.

Among the many top matches he controlled were the 1998 European Champions League final between Manchester United and Bayern Munich and the 2002 World Cup final between Brazil and Germany.

The Malta Independent is a media partner of The Economist Events.

Photos by Dominic Aquilina