Meet the ref: Jonas Eriksson

For Chelsea`s visit to Porto`s Dragao Stadium tonight, the man in black (actually a rather fetching yellow) will be Swede Jonas Eriksson. Given our previous experiences with Scandinavian referees, should we be worried?

Swedish referee Jonas Eriksson is from a town called Sigtuna. He`s 35 years old, and views refereeing as a hobby as he is rather rich. There is a limit to what else we know of the bloke, who only started refereeing in 1994, made his top flight debut in the Allsvenskan in 2000, and earned his FIFA badge in 2002. Eriksson was promoted to the elite category at the beginning of the 2009-2010 season.

Our man tonight only begun to arbitrate Champions League games last season, when he got one group stage game to his name, a fairly routine 3-0 win for Real Madrid over Zenit Saint Petersburg. So far this season, he presided over a qualifier between Dynamo Moscow and Celtic, as well as a Rangers Sevilla game in September. The latter saw the Scottish side hammered 1-4. Tonight`s game will therefore be Eriksson`s 5th in the Champions League, although we could mention that he`s been involved in the UEFA Cup since 2003. Looking through his performances, he doesn`t dish out many penalties or red cards, and the number of yellows is pretty balanced and average. If anything, he tends to book the away team more, which is understandable.

Interestingly, Eriksson is a former journalist who sold his share in Swedish media rights business IEC for over £6m two years ago. That has allowed him to focus on his favourite hobby of refereeing. "All the money hasn't changed anything, the best thing I do in my life is still refereeing football" is what Eriksson said.

By all accounts, the bloke is far from being an experienced whistle-blower. Unfortunately, a quick search reveals that he`s had more than his fair share of polemics considering his short career at the highest level. During the afore-mentioned 1-4, he 'overlooked` a penalty for Rangers, which earned him heaps of opprobrium. Commenting at the time, Gordon Strachan suggested that "The referee shouldn't get another game in the Champions League - get him out of here he is not good enough." Eriksson, however, will get another Champions League game: tonight he`ll be between Porto and Chelsea.

Then again, that game took place at the end of September. Maybe Mr Eriksson was still mulling over a previous performance that was less than glorious: he officiated an international friendly between England and Slovenia at the beginning of the month, when his refereeing was really not up to the task. Eriksson gave Wayne 'anger management` Rooney the benefit of the doubt after only 12 minutes when the Rooney went in on goalkeeper Samir Handanovic. Most referees would have brandished a yellow card, but not Eriksson. He let it go. So Rooney then lunged on defender Bostjan Cesar. That prompted Eriksson to take decisive action: somehow to award England a penalty, which was converted by Frank Lampard.

It`s easy to read too much into these performances, but the impression given is of a referee lacking in consistency and whose judgement can be swayed. And of a referee who is young and ambitious, who could be looking to favour his ascension up the UEFA greasy pole. Will that mean that he`s pliable to the preferences of the UEFA suits? That wouldn`t be good for Chelsea. Or maybe he`s just not that good a referee.

One other thing, Chelsea haven`t had a great experience with Scandinavian referees. Swede Anders 'because you`re worth it` Frisk was the man at the centre of a storm when he tried to blow the whistle in 2005 between Barça and Chelsea. It was subsequently proved that, yes, the Barça manager went to see him at half-time. After the break, Didier Drogba was sent off for two very innocuous yellows. Frisk certainly didn`t deserve to receive death threats from moronic supporters, but he played his role in a sorry outcome. And last season, it was fish-stinking Norwegian Tom Henning Øvrebø who failed to give 4 penalties to Chelsea, allowing Barça to equalise in injury time. Is it a coincidence that both were Scandinavian? Or does that only happen when the opposition is Barça?

We all hope for a fair game tonight where the result reflects what happens on the pitch rather than any incompetent refereeing. Let`s hope that the above are isolated incidents and that Jonas Eriksson rises to the occasion.

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