Referees Roberto Mattei, Leonardo Biccheri, Raffaele Agro and Diego Di Bagio are part of a delegation in Sydney on a ten-day exchange.

As part of that program, three of them will officiate in this Saturday night's state league clash between Marconi and Sydney Tigers. It's understood the fourth official will be a local.

Similar to previous exchange programs in 2004 and 2006 the Italians are scheduled to referee two rounds in the NSW Premier League, starting with the clash on Saturday evening.

The reciprocal exchange program will see four Australian referees from the NSW State League Referees Inc be selected on performance to ply their profession in Italy around September this year.

Paul Saliba, football manager at Marconi, said there shouldn't be a problem with players and officials communicating with the Italian visitors.  

"It's similar to when teams play in international tournaments and they have referees from other countries. They tend to get their message across. We're really looking forward to seeing them perform," he told au.fourfourtwo.com.

Italian referee Pierluigi Collina was generally regarded as one of the greatest ever referees on the international stage. He was voted World's Best Referee of the Year on six occasions before he retired in 2005.

The program is an initiative driven by Football NSW and the local referees' association with the help of sponsors Hyundai.