German referee Markus Merk admitted on Monday that his nomination to handle the Euro 2004 final at Lisbon's Estadio da Luz would help heal the wounds of his country's elimination at the first-round stage.
Merk, describing the news as "wonderful", pipped Italy's Pierluigi Collina, Sweden's Anders Frisk and Switzerland's Urs Meier to the honour of refereeing the final of the tournament which - in terms of TV viewing figures - is the second biggest tournament on the planet after the World Cup.
Merk told PA International: "It's an emotional day, a wonderful day and you think back to your whole career over 30 years - it is fantastic to be in the final and I will really enjoy it.
"It's just the same for the referees as it is for the players - it's something you dream about," said Merk who handled the 2003 Champions League final between AC Milan and Juventus in Manchester.
Like his rivals, Merk is in the unusual position of knowing that his hopes of refereeing the final are tied in inverse proportion to the performance of the national side - the further Italy, Sweden, Switzerland or Germany go in the competition the more unlikely it is that Collina, Frisk, Meier and Merk respectively will get to officiate at the decider.
"It was the same two years ago in Japan," said Merk whose hopes of refereeing the final were dashed when Rudi Voller's side qualified to play Brazil in Yokohama in the decider while Collina became eligible and got the job in part because Italy were eliminated at the last 16 stage by co-hosts South Korea.
Merk said: "Pierluigi and I were in the hotel together and we had to wait and see what happened. It is important for young players that the national team is successful especially in big footballing countries like Germany and Italy.
"But if the national team does not do well it is important there will be at least one German team in the final."
Germany, with outsiders Latvia, were one of two "corpses" in the competition's 'Group of Death' with the Czech Republic and Holland progressing to the knockout stages at their expense.
Merk will be accompanied by fellow German assistants Christian Schraer and Jan-Hendrik Salver with the fourth official not yet designated - given that he speaks German, Meier could be a likely candidate.
"I have been waiting for a moment like this," said Merk. "I have been working for 16 years in the Bundesliga and that is more important than individual matches. But my highlights include the 1992 Olympics (in Barcelona) and the opening game of Euro 2000 and one of the semi-finals.
"Then of course I did the Champions League final last year in Manchester."
Asked why he had chosen refereeing rather than playing as a career, Merk referred back to his childhood.
"I was born very near the stadium at Kaiserslautern which is a very emotional place, the Fritz-Walter Stadion, and when I started going to games when I was about 12 I was very impressed at how the referees and their assistants worked.
"I did not want to talk - I wanted to do. I started refereeing when I was 15 and then I decided to be a referee. After what has happened today I think I can say it was the right thing to do."
Collina, widely considered the best official on the planet, approved of the decision to appoint Merk - had the Italian got the job in what is his last major tournament before the mandatory retirement age of 45 he would have had the clean sweep of doing the 1996 Olympic final, the 1999 Champions League final between Bayern Munich and Manchester United, the 2002 World Cup final and then the Euro 2004 decider.
"No," said Collina when asked if he was disappointed. The official, who has become the world's first refereeing superstar and is recognised all over the world, was complimentary about Merk's abilities.
"He (Merk) is a friend and I have to say sometimes it is difficult to make a judgement about a friend," said the Italian. "But I can say that this is very, very much deserved."
Collina, who handled the tournament opener between Portugal and Greece, will instead take on Thursday's semi-final between the Greeks and the Czech Republic at the Estadio do Dragao.
Wednesday's semi between Portugal and Holland at Lisbon's Estadio Jose Alvalade will be officiated by Frisk who governed the Euro 2000 final between Italy and France.
Reuters.
Merk, describing the news as "wonderful", pipped Italy's Pierluigi Collina, Sweden's Anders Frisk and Switzerland's Urs Meier to the honour of refereeing the final of the tournament which - in terms of TV viewing figures - is the second biggest tournament on the planet after the World Cup.
Merk told PA International: "It's an emotional day, a wonderful day and you think back to your whole career over 30 years - it is fantastic to be in the final and I will really enjoy it.
"It's just the same for the referees as it is for the players - it's something you dream about," said Merk who handled the 2003 Champions League final between AC Milan and Juventus in Manchester.
Like his rivals, Merk is in the unusual position of knowing that his hopes of refereeing the final are tied in inverse proportion to the performance of the national side - the further Italy, Sweden, Switzerland or Germany go in the competition the more unlikely it is that Collina, Frisk, Meier and Merk respectively will get to officiate at the decider.
"It was the same two years ago in Japan," said Merk whose hopes of refereeing the final were dashed when Rudi Voller's side qualified to play Brazil in Yokohama in the decider while Collina became eligible and got the job in part because Italy were eliminated at the last 16 stage by co-hosts South Korea.
Merk said: "Pierluigi and I were in the hotel together and we had to wait and see what happened. It is important for young players that the national team is successful especially in big footballing countries like Germany and Italy.
"But if the national team does not do well it is important there will be at least one German team in the final."
Germany, with outsiders Latvia, were one of two "corpses" in the competition's 'Group of Death' with the Czech Republic and Holland progressing to the knockout stages at their expense.
Merk will be accompanied by fellow German assistants Christian Schraer and Jan-Hendrik Salver with the fourth official not yet designated - given that he speaks German, Meier could be a likely candidate.
"I have been waiting for a moment like this," said Merk. "I have been working for 16 years in the Bundesliga and that is more important than individual matches. But my highlights include the 1992 Olympics (in Barcelona) and the opening game of Euro 2000 and one of the semi-finals.
"Then of course I did the Champions League final last year in Manchester."
Asked why he had chosen refereeing rather than playing as a career, Merk referred back to his childhood.
"I was born very near the stadium at Kaiserslautern which is a very emotional place, the Fritz-Walter Stadion, and when I started going to games when I was about 12 I was very impressed at how the referees and their assistants worked.
"I did not want to talk - I wanted to do. I started refereeing when I was 15 and then I decided to be a referee. After what has happened today I think I can say it was the right thing to do."
Collina, widely considered the best official on the planet, approved of the decision to appoint Merk - had the Italian got the job in what is his last major tournament before the mandatory retirement age of 45 he would have had the clean sweep of doing the 1996 Olympic final, the 1999 Champions League final between Bayern Munich and Manchester United, the 2002 World Cup final and then the Euro 2004 decider.
"No," said Collina when asked if he was disappointed. The official, who has become the world's first refereeing superstar and is recognised all over the world, was complimentary about Merk's abilities.
"He (Merk) is a friend and I have to say sometimes it is difficult to make a judgement about a friend," said the Italian. "But I can say that this is very, very much deserved."
Collina, who handled the tournament opener between Portugal and Greece, will instead take on Thursday's semi-final between the Greeks and the Czech Republic at the Estadio do Dragao.
Wednesday's semi between Portugal and Holland at Lisbon's Estadio Jose Alvalade will be officiated by Frisk who governed the Euro 2000 final between Italy and France.
Reuters.
