Every referee dreams of officiating one of football’s showpiece games, namely the final of the World Cup, European Championship and the Champions League, during his/her career.

It says all about Leif Lindberg’s standing that, in the space of two years, he was given not one but two major finals.

Lindberg was one of the assistant referees when David Trezeguet’s golden goal handed France a 2-1 victory over Italy in the Euro 2000 final, played in the Dutch city of Rotterdam.

Two years later, the Swedish official reached another milestone in his career as he ran the line when Brazil beat Germany 2-0 in the final of the 2002 World Cup in Yoko-hama, Japan.

To this day, Lindberg is the only assistant referee to have figured in both the World Cup and European Championship finals but, by his own admission, he focused so hard during those two momentous games that his memories are hazy at best.

“Of course, I’m very proud to have done those finals,” the 57-year-old told Times of Malta.

“The problem is that, when you’re doing big games like those, you’re so fully focused that, if I hadn’t seen the matches on DVD afterwards, I wouldn’t have any glimpse of memory.

“For me, it’s mostly the appoint-ments... I still can remember the very good feeling about the appointment but, as for the actual games, you are blocked because you are so concentrated.

“When it’s over, it’s totally empty, so I don’t have a special sequence about it.”

Lindberg was only 21 when he took up refereeing. He did it because he loved the game but saw no future for himself as a player.

“I love football but I was a very lousy player so for me it was an easy decision,” he admitted.

“Normally, if you love football and you are a bad player, you can be coach or a referee and I decided to be a referee.

“It was hard at the beginning because I’m quite a small guy and it’s tough, but year after year, you learn more, you gain more experience and then you love it.

“So for me there was no question about continuing as referee.”

After calling time on his career, Lindberg remained involved in football as UEFA referee observer and coach of assistant referees at UEFA’s CORE Programme.

Having forged strong ties with the MFA Refereeing Department, spearheaded by Adrian Casha, Lindberg has just completed a two-day workshop for local assistant referees, entitled ‘Enhancing Performance’.

Lindberg believes that Malta is punching above its weight vis-a-vis the number of referees and assistant referees it has in the FIFA pool.

“I think I know quite a lot about the quality (of local refereeing) because I was here in May for the UEFA U-17 Championships and there were two Maltese referees involved,” Lindberg said.

“I’ve been coach of a (Maltese) team at CORE in UEFA, so I think I know a lot of them.

“I have also been an observer at a match officiated by Clayton Pisani in the Euros and I’m quite sure when I say that Malta has a high level of refereeing, considering the size of the country.

“I come from Gothenburg, Sweden, a city that has more people than Malta. If you compare countries of the same size, Malta is up there at the top for sure.

The situation was totally different 10 years ago because the game is a lot faster nowadays and the behaviour of players has changed

“For a small country like Malta to have four international referees is unbelievable... we only have seven in Sweden.

“It is clear than Adrian (Casha) and Philip (Agius) are doing a good job in the refereeing sector.”

The fact that Pisani has been promoted to category one by FIFA is a massive plus for Maltese refereeing as it proved that dedicated and talented officials can climb up the ladder, regardless of the size of the country.

“First of all, I think you have to decide if you want to be a referee or assistant referee and I think most of the people try to be a referee,” Lindberg replied when asked to identify the key ingredients to a successful career.

“But then you have to find the level when you say ‘ok, I can’t do any better as a referee and then quite normal to be an assistant’. For me, being a small guy, it was obvious, it was absolutely my job to do it.

“You really need training, training, training, fitness and dedication for sure. It takes a lot of time and you need a family that accepts that you are going to be far away from home most of the time.

“It’s bad pay for referees, compared to the players who earn big money, so you need a lot of dedication.”

Positive effect

Lindberg believes that UEFA’s decision to rope in two additional assistant referees has had a positive effect on the game.

“I know that in Malta you have gone further than Sweden with regards to the use of additional assistant referees,” Lindberg said.

“Additional assistant referees are being used in the European competitions. It’s about prevention and that is very important.

“You have two extra officials who are very close to the action and the players are very careful... they look and think twice before trying to cheat the match officials.”

Lindberg is not against the use of technology if it helps the referee but warned that video evidence could lead to excessive stoppages which can harm the game.

“Anything that can support the referee is good but I don’t want to see long breaks during games,” he explained.

“The interpretation of the Laws of the Game is intended to benefit football, mostly to encourage more attacking play and more goals.

“We can’t afford to disrupt the flow of the game. I believe that the current situation, with six match officials , is good for football.”

Asked whether the level of assistant referees in general has improved, Lindberg is convinced that match officials have a tougher job these days.

“There is a whole big difference,” he said.

“The situation was totally different 10 years ago because the speed of the game is a lot faster now and the behaviour of players has changed as well.

“Players try to cheat more these days, whereas 10 years ago, we had more fair play in football.”