Kim Milton Nielsen

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Kim Milton Nielsen (born August 3, 1960 in Copenhagen, Denmark) is a former international football referee. An IT manager by trade,^[1] Nielsen is noted for his impressive height of 1.96m, making him taller than most players. Nielsen began refereeing at 15 years of age, as he wanted to know the Laws of Football.^[1] A decade later, he began taking charge of Danish top-flight games, and he was awarded his FIFA international badge in 1988 when he was still in his late 20s.

His career includes 154 internationals and 53 UEFA Champions League games – the highest number of appearances for a referee in that competition.^[1] In 1993, he earned his first major UEFA call-up for the UEFA Super Cup first leg between SV Werder Bremen and FC Barcelona. An appointment for a final followed the next year - the 1994 UEFA Cup final first leg between SV Austria Salzburg and Inter Milan.

Nielsen refereed the Russia-Germany match at UEFA Euro 96 in England, and followed this up with duty at the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France. He took charge of two matches, including the clash between England and Argentina in Saint-Étienne, where he is remembered for controversially sending off England's David Beckham for kicking out at Argentina's Diego Simeone after the Argentinian had fouled him. England went on to lose the match on penalties, and Beckham was blamed and vilified by the English tabloids for causing the loss as a result of his sending-off. He was noted as the newsmaker of June 1998 on the BBC website where he gave his thoughts about the match and Beckham's sending off.^[2]

At UEFA Euro 2000, Nielsen was put in charge of the Germany-Romania and Turkey-Belgium encounters, although the latter match ended in disappointment as he was forced out of the competition with a leg injury.^[3] The 2002 FIFA World Cup represented another milestone, as he officiated the semi-final between Brazil and Turkey.

He received another accolade after being appointed as the referee for the 2003-04 UEFA Champions League final between AS Monaco FC and FC Porto. He was on duty in Portugal as one of the 12 UEFA Euro 2004 referees.

Nielsen attracted further controversy in a UEFA Champions League 2005-06 Group Stage match between Spanish side Villarreal CF and Manchester United, when he immediately showed a second yellow card and sent off Manchester United's Wayne Rooney for sarcastically clapping in his face after he had initially been shown a yellow card. 'Even sarcastic play is not allowed, the referee cannot accept that,' Nielsen said of his decision to BBC Radio Five Live.^[4]

In 2006, Nielsen reached the UEFA regulated age limit of 45. He ended his UEFA refereeing career on May 16, 2006, following the last game of the Danish Superliga championship.