URS MEIER of Switzerland who officiated at last night’s game between England and Portugal, knows why he is a referee.

He says: “I became one because I did not play football that well. I wanted to be involved in football at great stadiums such as San Siro in Milan and thought I could eventually do that as a referee.”

Mr Meier is a highly experienced official, working at both the 1998 and 2002 World Cups, when he officiated at the semi-final between South Korea and Germany. In 2001, he was voted by a specialist panel as one of the top 10 officials in the world.

He was also at the 2000 European Championship in Belgium and Holland including the England vs Romania game. Meier gave the penalty against Phil Neville, which resulted in England being eliminated from the tournament.

In 2002, he was the referee for the European Champions League final between Real Madrid and Bayer 04 Leverkusen in Glasgow. He has often been the centre of controversies, none more so than when he gave a penalty against Bob Balde of Glasgow Celtic as the club were knocked out of the European Champions League last December.

However, Mr Meier subsequently insisted that he was “100 per cent correct” after watching the replay, despite the protests during and after the game of the Celtic team.

Mr Meier, 45, was born in Zurich and still lives near there, working in the grocery trade. He has been a referee since 1977 and became a top-flight Swiss official in 1991, earning his badge from Fifa, the world governing body, in 1994.

He says: “I am extremely calm before matches. And I don’t really think about being with stars on the pitch. I go on the field and referee two teams and it doesn’t matter for me whether Ronaldo or Zinedine Zidane are out there. I consider a star player to be someone who is fair on the pitch and you don’t have to be a star to be fair.”

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