World’s ‘richest referee’ defined why he saved job regardless of unbelievable internet value
A multi-millionaire businessman tried his hand at refereeing for a fascinating reason, going on to become one of the biggest names in the game
Multi-millionaire business tycoon Jonas Eriksson once admitted he only became a top referee because he hated them growing up.
Eriksson, 51, was a FIFA-listed referee between 2002 and 2018, during which he was seen as one of the top officials in the game. The Swede was also a referee in his nation’s top flight from 2000 until 2018. But he is perhaps best known for being selected for the 2012 European Championships, 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Euros.
His career highlights included officiating the 2013 UEFA Super Cup between Chelsea and Bayern Munich, as well as the 2016 Europa League final, which saw Sevilla beat Liverpool 3-1. Eriksson’s fascinating journey began as a no-nonsense midfielder playing Saturday football in Sweden in his youth. Like many who have played the game, he was regularly left incensed by how his matches were refereed.
His antipathy towards officials, believing he could do a far better job, motivated him to try his hand at being the man in the middle at the age of 13. As he gained more experience as a referee in Sweden, Eriksson juggled his early career on the pitch with working at a company named IEC Sports, which bought and sold TV rights.
“I slept too little, trained poorly and was careless with my food,” Eriksson admitted, describing how working both jobs negatively affected his health.
By the time he was a fully-fledged Allsvenskan referee, Eriksson had become a partner and sales director at his firm. Despite the glitz and glamour associated with football, it was his off-pitch endeavours that made him a millionaire overnight. In 2007, Eriksson and the other IEC Sports partners sold their share in the company (his was worth around 10-15%), earning him £6million.
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He recalled: “I was 33 years old and suddenly financially independent, and never had to work again. The joy was great but not overwhelming. The road to the millions had been much more fun than the moment I realised that I never had to worry about money again.”
“I still collect stamps at the gas station to get every sixth car wash for free,” Eriksson later revealed, explaining how the millions didn’t change him.
He certainly could have rested on his laurels, jetting off and spending the remainder of his years relaxing on a sunny beach somewhere. But Eriksson’s passion and talent for refereeing was too great to give up, having learned first hand from the likes of Anders Frisk and Pierluigi Collina what it took to be a top official.
He said at the height of his career: “I love football and I love to referee. Every week when I step out onto the grass I’m doing what I love most. I’ve had a fantastic life as a businessman as well but since 2011 I’ve dedicated myself to being a professional referee and I’m having the time of my life.”
A young Jonas likely couldn’t ever have imagined uttering those sentences, having harboured an intense dislike for those who officiated his games when he was still playing. Speaking to Spintso in 2022, Eriksson explained: “Simple really. I was very angry on the pitch as a player.
“I shouted, scolded, played hard and was mad at all the referees who were rude and cocky. I hated referees who came five minutes before the match started, nonchalant and never answered questions.
“Then I thought that it can’t be that damn hard not to be like they were. The judgments I had weren’t as bad as it sounds now but that’s how I perceived it as a 13-year-old when I was angry and frustrated, simply a winner.
“I started refereeing because I thought: it can’t be that hard. So I attended a refereeing course organised by my association and started refereeing. I noticed that if I don’t do what my colleagues do, this will be fine.
“Sure, it wasn’t as easy as I thought but there was still something in it. That I was on the field thinking a lot about the questions, ‘What is it like to be a player? If I had played, how would I have wanted to be treated then?’
“Then I changed sides with myself and thought about it, for example, when a player came up and scolded and was angry, ‘If I were this player now, what would I want to hear from the referee?’
“I was still playing and could easily put myself inside a player’s head. I was still an angry player on Saturday and refereed football on Sunday. In order to understand another person, you should have been in the same position yourself, which I absolutely was.”
Despite still being subjected to criticism like any other referee throughout his career, his unique understanding and way of approaching the job served him well. He refereed almost 200 international matches and over 300 Allsvenskan games, while being named Referee of the Year three times in Sweden.
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He hung up his boots in 2018, though the manner in which his career crashed to a halt still stings to this day. Eriksson had hoped the 2018 World Cup in Russia would be his grand finale, having starred in Brazil four years earlier.
But after weeks of nervous anticipation and sleepless nights, refereeing chief Collina texted him to let him know he hadn’t been selected. That delivered a shock to the nervous system as he broke down in tears in front of his wife and five-year-old daughter.
Describing the trauma of knowing his career was essentially over at the top, he recalled: “I, who have been addicted to performance all my life, have failed to reach my ultimate goal. The crescendo of my career has been cancelled, my planning for the next eight months has been blown away.
“I think that I as a person am a fiasco, that I have failed monumentally, that I have finally become a bubble that has burst, a lie that has been caught. I feel ashamed in front of other people around me that I have failed in what was to be the last of my long and successful refereeing career.”
Fortunately, that dark episode hasn’t affected his love for the beautiful game, having since enjoyed offering his refereeing perspective on various situations as a TV pundit.
He called working in the SVT studio during Euro 2020 ‘the world’s best summer job’. Eriksson said: “I compare this job at SVT to when I refereed football. You have to be the best when it comes to it. You have to be well-read but also be able to improvise and find the moment. Of course, there is always tension when you have to speak live, but I love this. I enter a bubble.”
Eriksson has also continued his business career, even joining Sweden’s version of the hit TV series Dragon’s Den in 2021. He co-founded Dragon Invest AB with the other ‘dragons’ from the show, like Sara Wimmercranz, Shervin Razani, Jacob de Geer and Lena Apler, to pool investments from the programme, focusing on Swedish tech, e-commerce and gaming companies.
He keeps busy today as an investor and chairman for various Swedish tech firms such as MAG Interactive and G-Loot. That reportedly puts his current net worth at somewhere in the region of £10.4m, which has earned him the tag of ‘the world’s richest referee’.
Having once hated referees, Eriksson’s distinguished career is now likely the highlight of his professional life, having admitted in 2013: “All the money hasn’t changed anything, the best thing I do in my life is still refereeing football.”
He shared his unique insight into the world of football refereeing in his book Korthuset (House of Cards), released in 2022. In the book, Eriksson names his biggest regret as an official, saying: “I am ashamed that I did not speak out on certain occasions when I and others were treated badly. I and many others put our lives into becoming a referee, but were often treated like crap.”
