Urs Meier (born January 22, 1959, in Zurich) is a retired Swiss football referee. He officiated at the 1998 and 2002 World Cups, taking charge of the semi-final between

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

and

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

in 2002. He also refereed the 2002 UEFA Champions League Final that year. He appeared at Euro 2000 and Euro 2004, refereeing the quarter-final between

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

in 2004. He retired 6 months later. Meier received FIFA appointments and refereed in the Swiss top division until he reached the mandatory retirement age for each. He now appears as a pundit on the German television channel

ZDF ZDF (, short for Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen; ; "Second German Television") is a German public-service television broadcaster based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. It is run as an independent nonprofit institution, which was founded by all fe ...

during World Cups and European Championships. He also owns a brand of household appliances in

Würenlos Würenlos is a municipality in the district of Baden in the canton of Aargau in Switzerland. It lies north of the river Limmat, next to the canton of Zürich, located in the Limmat Valley (German: ''Limmattal''). Geography Würenlos has an are ...

, Switzerland.

Career

At the 1998 World Cup, Meier refereed the famous USA-Iran match. Later in an interview, he claimed that he had predicted himself as the referee of that match due to Switzerland's role as

protecting power A protecting power is a country that represents another sovereign state in a country where it lacks its own diplomatic representation. It is common for protecting powers to be appointed when two countries break off diplomatic relations with e ...

of United States in Iran. He refereed a qualification match for

Euro 2004 The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2004, was the 12th edition of the UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football competition contested by the men's national teams of UEFA member associations. The ...

between

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

and

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

. Denmark equalised in extra time to eliminate Romania. Romanian side argued he should have ended the game more than a minute before. Also, the penalty allowing Denmark to score the first goal was highly disputed, even the Danish TV commentator saying "only certain host teams are awarded such penalties". After several Romanian newspapers published his email address after the game, Meier received 14,000 e-mails, including death threats. He refereed the

quarter-final between

and

at Lisbon, which ended in a 2–2 draw with Portugal proceeding to win on a

penalty shootout The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

. In the 90th minute,

Sol Campbell Sulzeer Jeremiah Campbell (born 18 September 1974) is an English professional football manager and former player who was most recently the manager of club Southend United. He previously managed Macclesfield Town from November 2018 to August ...

found the net, but Meier disallowed the goal citing a push on the Portuguese keeper. After the match Meier's personal details were published by British tabloid newspapers and Meier received more than 16,000 abusive e-mails, including death threats. Reporters from '' The Sun'' travelled to Switzerland and placed a giant English flag on a field near his home. As a result, he was placed under

police The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and th ...

protection.

References

External links

Urs Meier homepage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Meier, Urs 1959 births Living people People from Baden District, Aargau Swiss football referees UEFA Champions League referees FIFA World Cup referees 1998 FIFA World Cup referees 2002 FIFA World Cup referees UEFA Euro 2000 referees UEFA Euro 2004 referees