Italian referee Maurizio Mariani and his team will wear ‘flamingo pink’ in Monday’s Group H game between Uruguay and Saudi Arabia in tribute to the city of Miami.
Mariani is one of 170 match officials at the World Cup being staged in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
“Miami is our base camp so we thought it would be nice to show our appreciation to the city where we’ll live for about two months,” FIFA‘s Chief Refereeing Officer and Chairman of the FIFA Referees Committee Pierluigi Collina said.
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The Southern Florida city is associated with the color pink because of the flamingos that were once abundant in the region, its famous pink sunsets and its iconic pink Art Deco architecture.
“We chose this ‘pink flamingo’ for the referees’ training material,” Collina said.
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“It’s a sort of recognition. Also, the first match — which will be played in Miami, June 15 — Uruguay v Saudi Arabia [Group H], the referee will wear the pink flamingo shirt.”
FIFA president Gianni Infantino, who recently met with the match officials at their training camp in Miami, added: “Pink is the colour of Miami, and we are all wearing this very nice pink dresses to give a little bit of a shout-out, to give a little bit of a smile to the city which is hosting us.”
