Dutchman, Bjorn Kuipers, will referee the Euros football final today between England and Italy.
The man dubbed the world’s richest referee has been put in charge of England’s first European Championship final. Said to have made millions running branches of a Dutch supermarket chain that sponsors Formula 1 world championship leader Max Verstappen, the 48-year-old, whose wealth was estimated in 2016 to be £11.5 million, will be the first Dutchman to take charge of a Euros final.
The last time that Italy and England met in a tournament, at the 2014 World Cup, the Dutchman was also the man in the middle - and Italy won. But England have had more success in recent times with Kuipers as the man with the whistle.
He was also the referee for England’s 2018 quarter-final triumph against Sweden and their Under-20 World Cup triumph against Venezuela the previous year. So, not much to go on as regards any perceived bias but, of course, as a top referee everyone would rightly anticipate there to be no bias anyway. Particularly now that VAR is available as a back-up and a double-check.
Today's OGN Sunday Magazine articles: