Tom Henning Øvrebø

Born in Oslo, Øvrebø refereed over two hundred games in the Norwegian top division since his debut made on 20 September 1992. He represented the Norwegian sports club Nordstrand. In 1994, he became an authorised FIFA referee. He won the Kniksen Award as referee of the year in the Norwegian top League for 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, and 2006. He refereed the Norwegian Cup finals of 1999 (Rosenborg–Brann 2-0) and 2006 (Fredrikstad–Sandefjord 3–0).

Controversies

Euro 2008: Italy

Øvrebø was chosen to referee at the 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 and the Italy–Romania match of Group C that ended in a 1–1 draw. In that game, Italy scored first with a Luca Toni goal but Øvrebø disallowed it for offside. He subsequently admitted that the decision "was a mistake," after watching the pass to Toni in a television replay. Despite the draw, Italy advanced to the next stage of the tournament.

2008–09 Champions League: Chelsea-Barcelona

On 6 May 2009, Øvrebø officiated in the UEFA Champions League's semi-final second leg between Chelsea and Barcelona. The game ended in a 1–1 draw and Barcelona advanced to the final on away goals. At the end of the game, he was verbally abused by several Chelsea players, including Didier Drogba, José Bosingwa and Michael Ballack, after turning down several penalty appeals…