Tom Henning Øvrebø

Tom Henning Øvrebø

Full name	Tom Henning Øvrebø
Born	26 June 1966 (1966-06-26) Oslo, Norway
Other occupation	Psychologist
Domestic
Years	League	Role
1992–	Tippeligaen	Referee
International
Years	League	Role
1994–2010	FIFA	Referee

Tom Henning Øvrebø (born 26 June 1966) is a Norwegian football referee. Born in Oslo, Øvrebø is a former UEFA Elite referee, who has refereed matches in the UEFA Cup and UEFA Champions League. He has worked as a psychologist outside of football.

Domestic career

Øvrebø has refereed over 200 games in the Norwegian Premier League since his debut on 20 September 1992. He represents the club Nordstrand. In 1994, he became an authorised FIFA referee. He won the Kniksen award as referee of the year in the Norwegian Premier League for 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005 and 2006. He refereed the Norwegian Cup finals of 1999 (Rosenborg–Brann) and 2006 (Fredrikstad–Sandefjord).

Euro 2008

Øvrebø was chosen to referee at Euro 2008 — his first major tournament and the first time he was chosen over fellow countryman and colleague Terje Hauge. He refereed the Germany–Poland match on the opening day of Group B. He refereed the Italy–Romania match, which resulted in a 1–1 draw. The Italian Football Federation later demanded an apology from UEFA after Luca Toni’s goal was incorrectly ruled out for offside in the Italy–Romania match that Øvrebø refereed. There was also criticism of the official for a penalty given to Romania and a yellow card to Daniele De Rossi at the ending moments of the game. Afterwards, Øvrebø admitted he had made a mistake about the offside decision, which had also been flagged by his assistant. Øvrebø was one of six referees not assigned a match in the knockout stages of Euro 2008.

2008–09 Champions League

Øvrebø was the target of further criticism when refereeing the UEFA Champions League semi-final second leg between Chelsea and Barcelona on 6 May 2009, turning down at least four penalty appeals by the Chelsea team, including a shirt pull on Didier Drogba by Éric Abidal, handballs by Piqué and Eto'o, and grab on Malouda by Alves in the penalty area, awarded just outside. He was also criticized for sending off Barcelona left back Éric Abidal, though replays show that he did not touch Chelsea striker Nicolas Anelka.

After the final whistle, several Chelsea players confronted Øvrebø on the field including substituted Didier Drogba, who was recorded shouting "It's a fucking disgrace!" into live television cameras. Chelsea manager Guus Hiddink labelled the referee's performance as "the worst I have ever seen". Chelsea defender José Bosingwa also had harsh words for Øvrebø, saying "I don't know if he's a referee or a thief", though he later admitted that he regretted his choice of words. Øvrebø was believed to have been smuggled out of England by police in fears for his safety after receiving a number of death threats. Chelsea quickly moved to distance the club from these threats by reporting via their website "Following media reports claiming threats have been made against the referee, Chelsea Football Club would like to make clear that it condemns any form of threat against players, officials or supporters".

Drogba was subsequently banned for four matches (plus two matches suspended for two years) by UEFA for his behaviour, while Bosingwa was banned for three matches (plus one suspended). As part of the same judgement, Chelsea were fined £85,000 for improper conduct on the part of Chelsea players and fans. Following an appeal by both players, personally attending a hearing in Switzerland, they both had their bans reduced by one match. Prior to the semi-final, Øvrebø had also handled 21 other Champions League games among a total of 48 UEFA matches overall.

2009–10 Champions League

Øvrebø was once again the centre of controversy during the first-leg knockout match between Bayern Munich and Fiorentina. After the match, Fiorentina coach Cesare Prandelli was furious with the referee and linesman: “There were some incidents that changed the game — Massimo Gobbi's dismissal, Miroslav Klose not getting sent off and the offside goal.”

TV evidence showed and Bayern players and officials admitted that the winning goal scored in the games' last minutes was indeed an offside goal. Asked about the incident, Bayern coach Louis van Gaal stated his support for the introduction of "technical aids" for the referee.

2010 World Cup qualification

In the group stages of qualification for the 2010 World Cup, Øvrebø refereed the Armenia-Turkey and Belgium-Spain matches, as well as the potentially fiery Slovakia-Czech Republic. On 10 October 2009, Øvrebø refereed the Greece-Latvia match, where he contentiously awarded a penalty to Greece early in the second period. Latvian manager Aleksandrs Starkovs voiced his disagreement with the decision, claiming that "there was clearly no foul".

Øvrebø was among the 14 pre-selected referees from UEFA for the final stages in South Africa, but did not make the final cut of 10 representatives from Europe. He therefore ended his international career in May 2010 but will continue in the Norwegian Premier League.