Massimo De Santis

Massimo De Santis is an Italian former association football referee. De Santis was born in Tivoli, Lazio. In addition to being a former referee, he is also a former police constable. De Santis speaks Italian and English. His first international game was on 1 January 2000. He was an official at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. De Santis was selected as Italy's refereeing representative at the 2006 FIFA World Cup but was barred by the Italian Football Federation due to the Calciopoli scandal in 2006. De Santis strongly denied guilt, saying: "If I committed any offences I did so on the field of play, if mistakes were made - but then we would have to try all the referees in the history of the game. I'm not taking this charge lying down. I expect justice." In July 2006, De Santis was banned for four years from football and given a 23-month prison sentence in November 2011.