Who is Slovakia vs Spain referee Bjorn Kuipers and how many European Championships has Dutch ref officiated?
SLOVAKIA and Spain will be handled by one of Europe’s most experienced referees as they face off in Seville.
Bjorn Kuipers will take charge as he returns to tournament football following his appearance at the World Cup three years ago.
Who is Bjorn Kuipers?
Kuipers, 48, is vastly experience and has been reffing since 2002.
He began in the Dutch leagues and worked his way up the ranks, becoming a Fifa listed ref in 2006.
He eventually joined the Uefa elite list in 2009.
Kuipers remains a fixture of the Dutch Eredivise, as well as high profile European competitions – where he most famously took charge of the Champions League final in 2014 between Real and Atletico.
Chelsea fans may remember he sent off Zlatan Ibrahimovic in the 2015 Champions League, after being surrounded by nine Blues’ players.
And he took charge of this season’s Champions League semi-final first leg between Bayern Munich and Real Madrid.
In 2018 he refereed Atletico Madrid in a final again, as Diego Simeone’s side beat Marseille 3-0.
And the same year he went to the World Cup, refereeing England’s quarter-final win over Sweden.
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Has he officiated at the European Championship before?
Kuipers is extremely experienced, having officiated at both Euro 2012 and Euro 2016.
In 2012, he was forced to suspend a group game between Ukraine and France thanks to an electrical storm.
And in 2016, he refereed the quarter-final between France and Iceland.