Kim Milton Nielsen

Who is Kim Milton Nielsen?

Kim Milton Nielsen is a former international football referee. An IT manager by trade, 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. 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. 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 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.