Lucky for us against Greece: Who is Bjorn Kuipers, the main referee of the match in Dublin

Tonight's match Ireland -  Bosnia and Herzegovina in Dublin will be refereed by Bjorn Kuipers, a Dutch referee. Kuipers is 42 years old.  Interestingly, his father was also a football referee. He has been on the FIFA list since 2006, reports the Patria news agency.

Kuipers studied business administration and later became a co-owner of three supermarkets and a hair salon in Amsterdam.

He refereed the match between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Greece when we won 3-1 and later qualified for the World Cup in Brazil. Many national team fans remember his fair officiating from that match.

Kuipers has refereed numerous major football matches.

He also officiated at the last World Cup in Brazil. Among the notable matches are the 2011 UEFA Super Cup between Barcelona and Porto, the final between Benfica and Chelsea, and the Champions League final Real – Atletico.    

The last national team matches he refereed are Scotland – Germany, Slovenia – Lithuania, and Denmark – Serbia. Kuipers is also prone to showing yellow and red cards. The match between Real Madrid and Atletico had as many as 12 yellow cards. In recent Champions League matches, he showed 4 red cards in nine matches. In the Dutch league, he is even stricter with card sanctions. In the last match between Feyenoord and Zwolle, he showed as many as seven yellow cards.

There is no doubt that he is currently the strongest refereeing name in Europe. Although he appears almost invisible on the field, he is a complete authority in every match.