In 1998, after progressing through to the
FA Premier League List of referees via the
Football League List, he was appointed to the
FIFA International List. He took charge of his first major appointment, the
Charity Shield match between
Arsenal and
Manchester United at
Wembley on 1 August 1999. The 'Gunners' were victorious by 2–1, thanks to second-half
Kanu and
Parlour goals, in reply to
David Beckham's strike in the 36th minute. Seventeen days later, on 18 August 1999, he was the man-in-the-middle for his first international game, the
friendly match between
Greece and
El Salvador in
Kavala, when Greece triumphed by 3 goals to 1. His first major international engagement was the
World Cup qualifying match on 3 September 2000, involving
Hungary and
Italy in
Budapest, and this was drawn 2-2. In the same month came his first
UEFA Champions League game,
Helsingborg versus
Bayern Munich at the
Olympia Stadium on 13 September - this ended in a 3–1 away win. On 12 May 2002, he took charge of the
Championship Play-off Final at the
Millennium Stadium,
Cardiff, between
Birmingham City and
Norwich City. Birmingham won by 4–2 on
penalties, after
extra time saw one goal each scored (by
Geoff Horsfield and
Iwan Roberts respectively) following a scoreless 90 minutes. He had also been referee for two earlier appointments in 2002 at
semi-final level in the
Football League One and
Two Play-offs. The first of his only two
European Championship qualifying games, both in season 2002–03, was the encounter between
Holland and
Belarus on 7 September 2002 at the
Philips Stadion in
Eindhoven. It ended in a comprehensive 3–0 win for the Dutch. His domestic career highlight was the
2003 FA Cup Final between Arsenal and
Southampton at the
Millennium Stadium on 17 May, when
Robert Pires scored a 38th-minute goal to claim the trophy for Arsenal. His last professional season was
2003–04. In this final period of his career he was given his last big European honour when he was chosen to referee the
UEFA Super Cup game between
AC Milan and
FC Porto, held in the
principality of Monaco at the
Stade Louis II Stadium on 29 August 2003.
Andriy Shevchenko scored the only goal to give Milan the win. He was to handle one of the 2004
FA Cup Semi-finals before his retirement from active top-class officiating at the end of that season, the tie between Arsenal and
Manchester United on 3 April 2004 at
Villa Park,
Birmingham. United won through thanks to a
Paul Scholes goal in the 32nd minute. He retired in 2004, two years before the standard FA Retirement age. ==Life after football==