Dutchman Björn Kuipers has been selected to take charge of Wednesday's UEFA Europa League final clash between SL Benfica and Chelsea FC to be kicked off in Amsterdam ArenA at 20:45 CET. He will be assisted by his regular crew that is completed by German Elite referee Felix Brych.
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| Björn Kuipers nominated for the final (c) UEFA.com/Getty |
The European football governing body's referee committee has hence cherished the 40 year-old supermarket director from Oldenzaal, Eastern Netherlands, after his excellent performances throughout the entire UEFA season including Champions League clashes like FC Barcelona - Paris S.G. in the quarterfinals and Borussia Dortmund - Real Madrid in the semifinals.
Having started refereeing in 1990, Kuipers became an international referee by making his FIFA bow in 2006, only one year after he had been promoted to the Dutch Eredivisie. In the same year, he took charge of his first international final at the Under-17 European Championship where Russia beat Czech Republic after penalty shoot-out. Following his participation in 2009 UEFA Under-21 European Championship in Sweden, where he oversaw the final win of Germany against England, he made his debut in Champions League as well (FC Barcelona - Dynamo Kyiv). Only two years later, he was assigned to whistle the Catalans' win in UEFA Super Cup final against FC Porto. A nomination for 2012 UEFA European Championship in Poland and Ukraine thus was the logical consequence, even though he had to leave the tournament immediately after the group stage. Among others, he was involved in the rain-match between Ukraine and France. Last weekend, he furthermore took charge of the national KNVB Cup final between AZ Alkmaar and PSV Eindhoven, where he performed very well.
Until now, Kuipers has taken control over 18 Champions League and 10 Europa League matches in his career - with this final, he is the only referee in UEFA's Elite Group with more than three international finals.
Kuipers is also on the short list for 2014 FIFA World Cup and received a Confederations Cup call-up last week.
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| fr.l: van Roekel, Liesveld, Kuipers, Zeinstra, van Boekel (c) voetbal.nl |
His regular assistant referees Sander van Roekel and Erwin E. J. Zeinstra will accompany him into this home game, as the final will take place in Amsterdam ArenA, Netherlands. Pol van Boekel and Richard Liesveld will assist on the goallines, while Germany's no.1 Felix Brych has been nominated as fourth official. For the lawyer of Munich, it will be the first international final participation in his palmarès. In a thread focussing on predictions for this final, I pointed out Kuipers and Brych as the most probable candidates for the final, unfortunately with the wrong conclusion.
Communication between both match officials will be guaranteed: Kuipers speaks fluent German.
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| Felix Brych of Germany |
15 May 2013, 20:45 Central European Time
Amsterdam ArenA, Amsterdam, Netherlands
SL Benfica - Chelsea FC
Referee: Björn Kuipers (Netherlands)
Assistant Referee 1: Sander van Roekel (Netherlands)
Assistant Referee 2: Erwin E. J. Zeinstra (Netherlands)
Additional Assistant Referee 1: Pol van Boekel (Netherlands)
Additional Assistant Referee 2: Richard Liesveld (Netherlands)
Fourth Official: Felix Brych (Germany)
Reserve Assistant Referee: Berry Simons (Netherlands)
UEFA Delegate: Pertti Alaja (Finland)
UEFA Referee Observer: Bo Karlsson (Sweden)
Blog Referee Observers: Chefren (Italy), Philipp S. (Germany)
Statistical Background
Overview: Referee Profile
Full Name: Björn Kuipers
Origin: Oldenzaal, Netherlands
Birthday: 28 March 1973 (40 years old)
Height, Weight: 182 cm, 83 kg
Profession: Supermarket Director
Languages: Dutch, English, German
Referee since: 1990
International since: 2006
Elite Group since: July 2009
UEFA CL debut: FC Barcelona - Dynamo Kyiv in 2009
Card Stats: 149 yellow cards [3,63/m], 5 second yellow cards [0,12/m], 4 red cards [0,10/m] in 41 UEFA club competition matches
Remarkable achievements: 2009 UEFA Under-21 European Championship (final), 2010 Club World Cup, 2011 UEFA Super Cup final, 2012 UEFA European Championship, 2013 UEFA Champions League semifinal, 2013 UEFA Europa League final, 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup, being shortlisted for 2014 FIFA World Cup
Head-to-Head
Competition | Stage | Home | -:- | Away | Referee |
CL 2011/12 | QF | Chelsea FC | 2:1 | SL Benfica | Damir Skomina (SVN) |
CL 2011/12 | QF | SL Benfica | 0:1 | Chelsea FC | Paolo Tagliavento (ITA) |
Kuipers' meetings with SL Benfica
Competition | Stage | Home | -:- | Away | Referee |
EL 2009/10 | GS | Liverpool FC | 4:1 | SL Benfica | Björn Kuipers (NED) |
EL 2008/09 | GS | SSC Napoli | 3:2 | SL Benfica | Björn Kuipers (NED) |
Kuipers' meetings with Chelsea FC
Competition | Stage | Home | -:- | Away | Referee |
CL 2010/11 | R16.1 | FC København | 0:2 | Chelsea FC | Björn Kuipers (NED) |
CL 2010/11 | GS | MŠK Žilina | 1:4 | Chelsea FC | Björn Kuipers (NED) |
CL 2009/10 | GS | Atlético Madrid | 2:2 | Chelsea FC | Björn Kuipers (NED) |
UEFA matches refereed by Björn Kuipers in the past three seasons
Competition | Stage | Home | -:- | Away | Referee Observer |
CL 2012/13 | SF1 | Borussia Dortmund | 4:1 | Real Madrid | Hugh Dallas (SCO) |
CL 2012/13 | QF2 | FC Barcelona | 1:1 | Paris S.G. | Kyros Vassaras (GRE) |
EL 2012/13 | R32.2 | Liverpool FC | 3:1 | Zenit St.Petersburg | Manuel Mejuto González (ESP) |
CL 2012/13 | GS | Schalke 04 | 1:0 | Olympiakos | Nuno Castro (POR) |
CL 2012/13 | GS | Celtic Glasgow | 2:1 | FC Barcelona | Zoran Petrović (SRB) |
CL 2012/13 | GS | Paris S.G. | 4:1 | Dynamo Kyiv | Levan Paniashvili (GEO) |
CL 2012/13 | PLO | Udinese Calcio | 1:1 (4:5 pso) | Sporting Braga | Vladimir Antonov (MDA) |
EURO 2012 | GS | Ukraine | 0:2 | France | Vlado Sajn (SVN) |
EURO 2012 | GS | Ireland | 1:3 | Croatia | Iouri Baskakov (RUS) |
CL 2011/12 | QF | FC Barcelona | 3:1 | AC Milan | Hugh Dallas (SCO) |
CL 2011/12 | R16 | CSKA Moskva | 1:1 | Real Madrid | Alfredo Trentalange (ITA) |
CL 2011/12 | GS | FC Basel | 2:1 | Man. United | William Young (SCO) |
CL 2011/12 | GS | Bayern München | 3:2 | SSC Napoli | Kaj Natri (FIN) |
CL 2011/12 | GS | Trabzonspor | 1:1 | Lille | Jean Lemmer (LUX) |
SC 2011 | FINAL | FC Barcelona | 2:0 | FC Porto | Bo Karlsson (SWE) |
EL 2010/11 | SF | FC Porto | 5:1 | Villarreal CF | Zoran Petrović (SRB) |
EL 2010/11 | QF | Dinamo Kyiv | 1:1 | Sporting Braga | Josef Krula (CZE) |
EL 2010/11 | R16 | Villarreal CF | 2:1 | Bayer Leverkusen | Martin Iseli (SUI) |
CL 2010/11 | R16 | FC København | 0:2 | Chelsea FC | Alan Snoddy (IRL) |
CL 2010/11 | GS | FC Basel | 2:3 | AS Roma | Peter Jones (ENG) |
CL 2010/11 | GS | MŠK Žilina | 1:4 | Chelsea FC | Eugen Strigel (GER) |
CL 2010/11 | PLO | Zenit St. Petersburg | 1:0 | AJ Auxerre | Horst Brummeier (AUT) |
Matches assessed by UEFA Referee Observer Bo Karlsson (SWE)
Competition | Stage | Home | -:- | Away | Referee |
CL 2012/13 | SF | FC Barcelona | 0:3 | Bayern München | Damir Skomina (SVN) |
EL 2012/13 | QF | Newcastle Utd. | 1:1 | SL Benfica | Ivan Bebek (CRO) |
EL 2012/13 | R16 | Steaua Bucuresti | 1:0 | Chelsea FC | Sergei Karasev (RUS) |
EL 2012/13 | R32 | Olympiakos | 0:1 | Levante DU | Matej Jug (SVN) |
CL 2012/13 | GS | Nordsjaelland | 2:5 | Shakhtar Donetsk | Antony Gautier (FRA) |
CL 2012/13 | GS | Olympiakos | 3:1 | Montpellier | Marijo Strahonja (CRO) |
CL 2012/13 | GS | Bayern München | 2:1 | Valencia CF | Fırat Aydınus (TUR) |
EL 2012/13 | PLO | Metalist Kharkiv | 2:1 | Dinamo Bucuresti | Hüseyin Göçek (TUR) |
EURO 2012 | GS | Denmark | 1:2 | Germany | Carlos Velasco (ESP) |
EURO 2012 | GS | Greece | 1:2 | Czech Republic | Stéphane Lannoy (FRA) |
CL 2011/12 | QF | Chelsea FC | 2:1 | SL Benfica | Damir Skomina (SVN) |
CL 2011/12 | R16 | FC Barcelona | 7:1 | Bayer Leverkusen | Svein Moen (NOR) |
CL 2011/12 | R16 | Olymp. Marseille | 1:0 | Internazionale | Cüneyt Çakır (TUR) |
CL 2011/12 | GS | Olympiakos | 3:1 | Arsenal FC | Alberto Undiano (ESP) |
CL 2011/12 | GS | Olympique Lyon | 2:0 | Dinamo Zagreb | Pavel Královec (CZE) |
EL 2011/12 | GS | PAOK | 0:0 | Tottenham | Milorad Mažić (SRB) |
EL 2011/12 | GS | Atlético Madrid | 1:0 | Udinese Calcio | István Vad (HUN) |
SC 2011 | FINAL | FC Barcelona | 2:0 | FC Porto | Björn Kuipers (NED) |
CL 2010/11 | SF | Man. United | 4:1 | Schalke 04 | Pedro Proença (POR) |
EL 2010/11 | QF | FC Porto | 5:1 | Spartak Moskva | Serge Gumienny (BEL) |
EL 2010/11 | R16 | FC Porto | 2:1 | CSKA Moskva | Kevin Blom (NED) |
EL 2010/11 | R32 | FC Basel | 2:3 | Spartak Moskva | Aleksandar Stavrev (MKD) |
EL 2010/11 | GS | Sporting | 1:0 | Lille | Bas Nijhuis (NED) |
CL 2010/11 | GS | Rubin Kazan | 0:0 | Panathinaikos | Tony Chapron (FRA) |
CL 2010/11 | GS | SL Benfica | 2:0 | Hapoel Tel-Aviv | Aleksei Nikolaev (RUS) |
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