The referee Marco Guida had declared, in April 2025, that he did not want to referee a Napoli match. It was not a regulatory ban, but a personal choice motivated by the context in which he lives. Born in Pompeii and resident in the Neapolitan area, Guida had explained that, together with colleague Fabio Maresca, they preferred to avoid refereeing an Italian match for reasons of personal serenity: a family with three children, a wife who runs a business and the awareness that a mistake in a Napoli match could also have repercussions off the pitch. “I didn't feel calm,” he said, underlining that the environmental pressure of a Napoli match could influence his performance.
A year and a half later, Daniele Orsato, president of the National Referee Commission (CAN), clearly expressed his trust in the Torre Annunziata section, where Guida was assigned to referee the match between Milan and Inter, one of the most delicate matches in Serie A. Orsato reiterated that there is no doubt about the reliability of the whistle in the Torre Annunziata section, where Napoli is destined to play this year. The choice to assign Guida to Milan-Inter, despite his previous statement, demonstrates that CAN believes his competence and impartiality is capable of managing the highest level matches, even in high-pressure contexts.
Orsato's decision was greeted with interest by the sports press, which noted that the choice of an international referee, used to refereeing top-level matches, not to referee a local team had never been publicly discussed. The arbitrator, in fact, stated that his choice was motivated by personal factors and not by issues of integrity or conflict of interest. CAN, however, reiterated that a referee's assessment depends not only on his personal context, but also on his ability to manage the most important matches.
Napoli, which is preparing to play in the Torre Annunziata section, will have to deal with the presence of a referee who has proven to be able to manage the most delicate matches of the championship. Orsato's choice to entrust Guida with the match between Milan and Inter, one of the most important matches in Serie A, confirms his trust in his competence and his ability to manage the highest level matches. The future of Napoli, which is still far from Chivu and Amorim's teams, remains uncertain, but Orsato's choice to entrust Guida with such an important match shows that CAN is ready to manage the most delicate matches of the championship.