Concetto Lo Bello

Concetto Lo Bello

Lo Bello at the 1970 European Cup Final
Born	13 May 1924 Syracuse, Italy
Died	9 September 1991 (aged 67) Syracuse, Italy
Other occupation	Politician
Domestic
Years	League	Role
	Serie A	Referee
International
Years	League	Role
1958–1974	FIFA listed	Referee

Concetto Lo Bello (born 13 May 1924 in Syracuse — died 9 September 1991 in the same city) was an Italian association football international referee. He holds the record for refereeing the most games in Serie A (328).

His career spanned the years 1944 to 1974, refereeing his first international match in 1958. Throughout the 1960s he was regarded as one of the world's finest referees, a compelling mixture of authority and flamboyance.

He officiated at 34 international matches, though never a World Cup Final, the closest to that being the West Germany - USSR semi-final in 1966. He had been provisionally chosen to referee the 1970 FIFA World Cup Final, but the Italian team reached the final, so he could not officiate. Lo Bello also refereed the European Cup finals of 1968 (Manchester United — Benfica) and 1970 (Feyenoord v Celtic) as well as the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup 2nd leg final in 1966 and the UEFA Cup 2nd leg final in 1974. The latter final occurred shortly after his fiftieth birthday, making him the oldest official at a European final. He retired after this match.

After retirement, he entered politics, as a deputy for the Christian Democrat party. He was Minister of Sport for a spell, and, briefly, was Minister for Drought. In 1986 he was elected mayor of Syracuse, but was only in the job for five months. In 2012 he was posthumously inducted into the Italian Football Hall of Fame.^[1]

His son, Rosario Lo Bello, was also a Serie A and international referee.

References

1. "Hall of fame, 10 new entry: con Vialli e Mancini anche Facchetti e Ronaldo" [Hall of fame, 10 new entries: with Vialli and Mancini also Facchetti and Ronaldo] (in Italian). La Gazzetta dello Sport. 27 October 2015. Retrieved 27 October 2015.