Urs Meier was one of the world's best referees for many years. In 27 years, the Swiss referee officiated 883 football matches, becoming a FIFA referee in 1994 and earning the respect of players and fans in more than 40 UEFA Champions League and numerous UEFA Europa League matches. After his active career as a FIFA referee, the current entrepreneur is committed to the professionalisation of international referees and passes on his experience in inspiring lectures and coaching sessions. Urs Meier (*1959) discovered his passion for refereeing already at a young age. In 1990, he refereed his first match in Switzerland's top league, followed by a series of international appearances in the UEFA Cup and international matches at European level from 1994 onwards. By the time he was nominated for the 1998 World Cup, he had already refereed more than 30 international matches. As a newcomer to the finals, he was assigned the politically explosive match between the USA and Iran, and his confident officiating earned him international respect. However, the reactions were not always favourable: he was the victim of the English press after England were eliminated from the 2004 European Championship against Portugal after Urs Meier rightly disallowed an England goal in the 89th minute. This resulted in furious headlines and numerous anonymous threats. He himself counts the 2002 Champions League final between Real Madrid and Portugal as one of his sporting highlights. He ended his career as a professional referee in 2004 and from 2007 to 2011 was head of Swiss referees and a referee observer for UEFA. From 2005 to 2018, Urs Meier was a guest commentator on football broadcasts for ZDF. Together with Johannes B. Kerner and Jürgen Klopp, he was awarded the German Television Prize for his analyses at the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Since 2018 he covers the Champions League and Europa League broadcasts on the Swiss TV channel Blue (formerly Teleclub) as a referee expert. Urs Meier speaks four languages: German, French, English and Spanish. The Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper calls him a "gifted speaker with humour and self-irony". In his lectures, he provides interesting insights into the world of the impartial referee - which is subject to constant change due to digitalisation and video evidence - and uses anecdotes and exciting match scenes to show the parallels to business.