Urs Meier

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Urs Meier (born January 22, 1959 in Würenlos) is a retired Swiss football referee, a grocer by trade that owns a brand of household appliances. From 1994 until 2004 he was an international FIFA referee. He was elected by an expert jury to be the second-best referee in 2002 and third-best in 2004.

He officiated at the 1998 and 2002 World Cups, taking charge of the semi-final between South Korea and Germany in 2002. He also refereed the 2002 UEFA Champions League Final as well that year. He also appeared at Euro 2000 and Euro 2004, refereeing the quarter-final between England and Portugal in 2004. Meier is also featured in the best-selling videogame FIFA 06 from EA Sports.

Meier received FIFA appointments and refereed in the Swiss top division until he reached the mandatory retirement age for each. In German TV coverage of the 2006 World Cup, Meier is an expert commentator for referee decisions.

1 Notable matches
2 Notes
3 External links

[edit] Notable matches

[edit] USA vs Iran

At the 1998 World Cup Urs Meier refereed the heated USA-Iran match. It was an emotional match because of the political situation. It was a match that was seen as hard to referee because of this. This was one of his earliest and best games as a World Cup referee.

[edit] England vs Romania

At Euro 2000 he awarded Romania an 89th minute penalty kick, after an ill-timed tackle by Philip Neville. The resulting goal which was scored by Romanian midfielder Ionel Ganea eliminated England from the competition.

[edit] Denmark vs Romania

During a qualification match for Euro 2004 between Romania and Denmark, he awarded what Romanians felt was a controversial penalty kick for Denmark. Some camera angles, however, suggested that Romanians pulled the shirt of the Danish striker. Meier also let play go on for longer than the amount of time added on originally announced by the fourth official, making it five minutes instead of four, in which Denmark equalized (2-2), a goal which eliminated Romania. However, Romania made a substitution during injury time.

As a result, the Romanian press and fans complained: 14,000 angry e-mails were sent to him, as several Romanian newspapers had published his email address. Also, several petitions, signed by thousands of people were sent to UEFA, but they were disregarded. It should be noted, however, that the amount of time shown by the fourth official is only intended to serve as an indication of the amount of time added on at that particular stage of the match; further time may be added on during the time indicated (eg due to timewasting, substitutions or other delays).

[edit] Portugal vs England

In the Euro 2004 quarter-final between England and Portugal at Lisbon, with the score at 1-1, he disallowed a goal by Sol Campbell in the 89th minute due to a foul by John Terry on the Portuguese goalkeeper Ricardo Pereira. Television replays were inconclusive. Meier received backing from UEFA and others for his decision. The match ended in a draw, and Portugal proceeded to the next stage following a penalty shootout and reached the final (where they lost to Greece).

English media and football fans did generally not accept their team's loss, blaming and harassing Meier for his decision, calling him "Urs hole", "idiot ref" and a "Swiss Banker". The English claimed that the goal would have stood in England's football league The Premiership, but Meier correctly reminded them that the game was part of an international tournament^[1].

After Meier's personal details were published by British tabloid newspapers, Meier received more than 16,000 abusive e-mails, and also death threats. Reporters of The Sun even travelled to Switzerland and placed an English flag at his home. As a result, he was placed under police protection. At the airport, Meier was picked from the plane and had to hide for 7 days, and could not meet his children for 4 days.