The referee of this year’s SELAF Bowl will be Giuseppe Rizzello from Italy.

Rizzello will be in Belgrade Friday and Saturday, prior to the final game on Sunday, October 8th, where he will participate in a seminar organized by the USAFS – Serbian American Football Officials Association.

He has been an American football official for the past 26 years, during which time he refereed more than 700 official games in Italy, and 63 official games in Europe in 15 years of officiating.

This way he will follow in the footprints of Vincenzo Calandrelli, another Italian football official who refereed a game in Serbia, the one between Serbia and Slovenia a year ago, also in Belgrade.

The 44 year old Rizzello, nicknamed Joe, has participated in many important European matches throughout his career, including Eurobowl in 1993 as a referee, and World Bowl as a head linesman in 1996. He was the first Italian professional official for the NFL Europe and the first one assigned to the World Bowl. In 1983 he was one of the co-founders of the Italian Association of American Football Officials – AIAFA.