Norwegian referee Tom Ovrebo, who rose to prominence after refusing a string of penalties to Chelsea in the 2009 Champions League semi-final, is set to retire from international football.

Ovrebo, 43, has officiated for 16 years but failed to make the cut for the World Cup finals in South Africa. His impending retirement from international competition was announced by the Norwegian FA.

"Of course, we're sad that Tom Henning Ovrebo has decided to stop officiating at international level, but we're proud of his achievements," the federation said.

Chelsea might see it differently.

Ovrebo had to be smuggled out of Britain following the second leg of the semi-final between Chelsea and Barcelona last year, from which the Spanish club advanced to the final and went on to win the trophy.

Ovrebo turned down four strong penalty appeals by Chelsea and at the end of the game was confronted by a furious Didier Drogba and had to be escorted down the tunnel by a group of Chelsea stewards who had difficulty restraining the striker.

Ovrebo's situation had worrying echoes of the hounding of Swedish referee Anders Frisk, who retired from the game in 2005 after receiving death threats in the wake of another ill-tempered meeting between Chelsea and Barcelona.

Frisk had sent Drogba off in the first leg of a second round match and was accused by Chelsea's then-boss Jose Mourinho of having invited Frank Rijkaard, the Barca coach at the time, into his room at half-time.

Ovrebo will continue to officiate at national level.