Euro 2020 final referee Bjorn Kuipers – the maverick millionaire who likes to chat
Posted by
JD (aka Jason Dean)
Jul 9 '21, 09:43
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C/P due to being on The Athletic
England, Italy and particularly Marco Verratti have history with Bjorn Kuipers, who will take charge of the Euro 2020 final.
“The referee told me ‘F*** you’, twice. If I do that, I get a 10-match ban,” claimed Verratti of the Dutch official after Paris Saint-Germain’s Champions League semi-final defeat by Manchester City this season.
If Italy are worried about the choice of Kuipers then more fuel could be added with Pol van Boekel of the Netherlands being part of the VAR team. Van Boekel was the VAR referee who upheld the decision to award Raheem Sterling a penalty for Harry Kane’s extra-time winner against Denmark in the semi-final. He will be the assistant VAR referee.
Kuipers also took charge of England and Italy’s group game at the World Cup in 2014, which the Italians won 2-1 thanks to goals from Claudio Marchisio and Mario Balotelli — Daniel Sturridge scoring for England.
That detail alone will make that game in Brazil feel like a long time ago but on Sunday night all three meet again, as the 48-year-old will be in charge at Wembley.
So who is the referee ready to take charge of England’s most important match for 55 years?
Well, by all accounts a bit of a maverick but also a millionaire.
Kuipers has been dubbed the richest referee in world football after he was said to be worth around £11.5 million back in 2016 through ownership of the supermarket in his home town of Oldenzaal. He owns the franchise for a Jumbo store, which has supermarkets across the Netherlands and Belgium, as well as a hair salon in the town near the German border.
He boasts the title of being 2016’s best Jumbo franchisee although it will perhaps mean more that he will be the first Dutchman to take charge of a Euro final having previously refereed at two World Cups and two European Championships before being selected for this year’s showpiece. Kuipers comes from a family of referees and follows after his father and grandfather, Andries van Leeuwen, who oversaw Tottenham Hotspur’s Cup Winners’ Cup victory over Atletico Madrid in 1963.
At Euro 2020, Kuipers was the referee for the group stage match between Denmark and Belgium which was the next game to be played following Christian Eriksen’s cardiac arrest and the referee stopped the game in the 10th minute for a standing ovation as a show of support to the Danish midfielder.
He also oversaw a group game which saw Spain thrash Slovakia 5-0, as well as Denmark’s 2-1 quarter-final win over the Czech Republic.
Kuipers has been an Eredivisie referee since 2005 and progressed to become a UEFA Elite referee in 2009 — he has since taken charge of two Europa League finals in 2013 and 2018 as well as the 2014 Champions League final between Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid.
There is also that bit of history with England in their defeat by Italy at the World Cup in 2014, plus England Under 21s’ 4-0 defeat against Germany in the 2009 Under-21 Euro final.
Those two defeats might seem like a bad omen but Kuipers was in charge for England’s under-17 World Cup win against Spain in 2017, which featured Phil Foden, plus their Under-20 World Cup triumph against Venezuela in the same year and the senior team’s 2018 World Cup quarter-final triumph against Sweden.
His performances when Italian players have been involved have not been without incident, however, as PSG’s Champions League semi-final defeat by Manchester City turned sour when Angel Di Maria was sent off for a stamp on Fernandinho and Verratti claimed: “The referee also told me ‘f*** you’ twice. For them it’s normal, if I say that it’s 10 matches (ban). I talk a lot to the referee but I don’t say that.”
According to ex-Manchester United midfielder Ander Herrera, “The referee tonight said “f*** off” to Leandro Paredes. If we say that we get a three or four-match ban,” as PSG slumped to a 4-1 aggregate defeat.
Despite this, Kuipers is apparently big on the opponents showing each other respect — best shown by him berating Lionel Messi for his celebrations after putting Barcelona 3-0 up in the Champions League semi-final against Liverpool in 2019.
“Messi! Why? Come on! Show them some respect,” Kuipers was heard telling the six-time Ballon d’Or winner in a video later released by UEFA. “Go! Every time, you do it. Come on! Why do you do it?”
He also has a tricky history with the Italian press, who took aim at the referee after Juventus were knocked out of the Champions League by Porto this year, with Tuttosport writing that he “does not have a level in the Champions League”, while accusing him of making mistakes that cost “millions of euros and the credibility of the competition”.
As a regular in the Champions League and Europa League, he is likely to be familiar to players on both teams at Wembley on Sunday and will be supported by compatriots and assistant referees Sander van Roekel and Erwin Zeinstra. The fourth official will be Spain’s Carlos del Cerro Grand.
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