Nicola Rizzoli is an Italian football referee who has refereed in the Italian Serie A since 2002 and has been a FIFA-listed referee since 2007.

He refereed his first UEFA Champions League qualifying match in August 2007, and took charge of his first Champions League group stage match, a 2-0 Sporting CP victory over Basel, on 1 October 2008. On 7 April 2010, Rizzoli took charge of the Champions League quarter-final second leg between Manchester United and Bayern Munich. With the score at 3-1 to Manchester United (4-3 on aggregate), Rizzoli sent off their right-back, Rafael, for a second bookable offence. Bayern then scored again and won the tie on away goals. On 12 May 2010, Rizzoli refereed the 2010 UEFA Europa League Final, as Atletico de Madrid defeated Fulham 2-1. In May 2013, Rizzoli was selected by UEFA to referee the 2013 Champions League Final at Wembley.

At international level, Rizzoli served as a referee at UEFA Euro 2012 and has officiated in qualifiers for the 2010 and 2014 World Cups. FIFA named Rizzoli to its list of 52 candidate referees for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. Rizzoli was selected, and was the head referee for a group stage match between Spain and the Netherlands. He refereed the 2014 FIFA World Cup Final between Germany and Argentina on 13 July at the Estadio do Maracana.

As of 2011, Rizzoli has won five consecutive AIC Serie A Referee of the Year Awards, with his most recent success coming in 2015. In January 2015, Rizzoli was named the 2014 World's Best Referee by IFFHS. In December 2015, he was named one of the eighteen referees appointed for UEFA Euro 2016.