• About
Dutch Referee Blog

making you a better referee

  • Home
  • Blog
  • Case studies
  • Interviews
  • Tips & tricks
    • Development as ref: start with the selfscan
    • Game management
    • Goal-setting for referees
    • Effective communication
    • Mental toughness
    • Focus and concentration
  • Fitness
    • Importance of physical training
    • Fifa fitness test for referees (men and women)
    • Assistant referee fitness test
    • Change of Direction Ability (CODA) fitness test
    • Single Double Single High Intensity Interval Test
    • ARIET fitness test
    • Nutrition for referees
  • Resources
    • Football Laws of the Game
    • Futsal Laws of the Game
    • Laws of the Game Quizzes
    • FIFA refereeing international lists 2023
    • Refereeing Assistance Programme
    • Refereeing magazines
  • About
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Case studies
  • Interviews
  • Tips & tricks
    • Development as ref: start with the selfscan
    • Game management
    • Goal-setting for referees
    • Effective communication
    • Mental toughness
    • Focus and concentration
  • Fitness
    • Importance of physical training
    • Fifa fitness test for referees (men and women)
    • Assistant referee fitness test
    • Change of Direction Ability (CODA) fitness test
    • Single Double Single High Intensity Interval Test
    • ARIET fitness test
    • Nutrition for referees
  • Resources
    • Football Laws of the Game
    • Futsal Laws of the Game
    • Laws of the Game Quizzes
    • FIFA refereeing international lists 2023
    • Refereeing Assistance Programme
    • Refereeing magazines
  • About
  • Blog,  Profiles,  World Cup 2014

    Björn Kuipers: from whining player to top class referee

    11 July, 2021 / 37 Comments

    Björn Kuipers was a football player every referee would hate. The 16-year-old captain of his team couldn’t stop whining at the man in black about wrong decisions. Not once, but e-ve-ry match. As a player he was the complete opposite of the referee who got appointed for the 2014 Champions League final due to his cool and calm style of refereeing. After Leo Horn (1957 and 1962), Charles Corver (1978) and Dick Jol (2001) the 41-year-old Kuipers is only the fourth Dutch referee who’ll referee the final of the biggest club competition in Europe. In 2021 he reached his pinnacle, as first ever Dutch referee in a final of a…

    Read More
    Jan ter Harmsel

    You May Also Like

    Simona Ghisletta. Photo provided by referee.

    ‘Refereeing is expecting the unexpected’

    21 July, 2011

    Laws of the Game Quiz 2024-2025 #1

    18 September, 2024

    Referee 2.0 uses smartphone app for goals and cards

    17 November, 2012
  • Blog,  Profiles,  World Cup 2014

    Sander van Roekel happy in shadow of Kuipers

    10 June, 2014 / 3 Comments

    In 1980 Sander van Roekel was a promising striker in the u8 team of SKV, but he got into refereeing very early in his career. When he entered professional football as referee, a member of Van Roekel’s football club wrote on the club’s website: “If Sander Van Roekel will reach the top of professional football, and if people maybe even will be talking about him in Europe, remains to be seen.” Start as professional referee Sander van Roekel was also with Björn Kuipers, Bas Nijhuis and Pol van Boekel on the C-list of Dutch referees, talented refs who just joined professional football. “But I soon realised they were better”, Van…

    Read More
    Jan ter Harmsel

    You May Also Like

    Laws of the Game Quiz 2024-2025 #1

    18 September, 2024

    Referee 2.0 uses smartphone app for goals and cards

    17 November, 2012
    Simona Ghisletta. Photo provided by referee.

    ‘Refereeing is expecting the unexpected’

    21 July, 2011
  • Blog,  Profiles,  World Cup 2014

    Referee Milorad Mazic and the Belgrade derby’s

    9 June, 2014 / 3 Comments

    Milorad Mazic played football like most of the referees before he started officiating. “I had a bad injury”, he told Fifa. “And after that I started and became a referee.” The passion for football is the main thing that drives him, also as a referee. “I love football so much.” Mazic is very happy he could still have a career in football. First and most important thing in Brazil is to do ‘my very best’, says Mazic. His career went fast after becoming an international referee in only 2009. On 2012 Mazic was on the prospective list of World Cup referees, but he was not an Elite Uefa referee yet.…

    Read More
    Jan ter Harmsel

    You May Also Like

    Simona Ghisletta. Photo provided by referee.

    ‘Refereeing is expecting the unexpected’

    21 July, 2011

    Laws of the Game Quiz 2024-2025 #1

    18 September, 2024

    Referee 2.0 uses smartphone app for goals and cards

    17 November, 2012
  • Blog,  Profiles,  World Cup 2014

    Mark Geiger and his exciting lifestyle as professional referee

    2 June, 2014 / 27 Comments

    Mark Geiger has been named MLS referee of the year 2014. He was number one for players, clubs and media, MLS announced. Number 2 and 3 were Jair Marrufo and Alan Kelly. Mark Geiger will also referee the 2014 MLS final. 2014 was a great year for Mark Geiger. The best moment maybe is 2:24 am on 15th of January 2014. At that moment an e-mail was sent to Mark Geiger from Uefa Headquarters with the news that he’d be a referee at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. “I woke up to an email and a couple of text messages from friends. An outstanding experience just to wake up…

    Read More
    Jan ter Harmsel

    You May Also Like

    Laws of the Game Quiz 2024-2025 #1

    18 September, 2024

    Referee 2.0 uses smartphone app for goals and cards

    17 November, 2012
    Simona Ghisletta. Photo provided by referee.

    ‘Refereeing is expecting the unexpected’

    21 July, 2011
  • Blog,  Profiles,  World Cup 2014

    Joel Aguilar always goes for the final

    29 May, 2014 / 18 Comments

    When a referee didn’t turn up Joel Aguilar from El Salvador had to pick up the whistle. “When I was asked to be the referee I said no at first because I liked playing and in fact had poor relations with referees because I got sent off every so often,” Aguilar said to Reuters. “All of us who love football wish the national team to go to the World Cup. Given the choice between the team and a referee, everyone would pick the team, but I’m proud to be able to take part representing El Salvador,” Aguilar told Reuters. He even told SNTV later that going to the World Cup…

    Read More
    Jan ter Harmsel

    You May Also Like

    Simona Ghisletta. Photo provided by referee.

    ‘Refereeing is expecting the unexpected’

    21 July, 2011

    Laws of the Game Quiz 2024-2025 #1

    18 September, 2024

    Referee 2.0 uses smartphone app for goals and cards

    17 November, 2012
  • Blog,  Profiles,  World Cup 2014

    Yuichi Nishimura can bring Asian refereeing to new heights

    27 May, 2014 / 32 Comments

    Yuichi Nishimura is a big contestant of becoming the first Asian World Cup final referee. The 42-year-old referee from Japan has already shown his skills during the 2010 World Cup with a quarter final and the appointment as 4th official in the final officiated by Howard Webb. A report of newspaper UzDaily wrote shortly after the tournament: “I cannot predict the future but I won’t be surprised if there was an Asian, whether from Japan, Malaysia or even Bhutan, who would one day become THE referee for the World Cup final. The sky is the limit for Asian judges on field. And the dedication is there for them to reach…

    Read More
    Jan ter Harmsel

    You May Also Like

    Simona Ghisletta. Photo provided by referee.

    ‘Refereeing is expecting the unexpected’

    21 July, 2011

    Laws of the Game Quiz 2024-2025 #1

    18 September, 2024

    Referee 2.0 uses smartphone app for goals and cards

    17 November, 2012

Search

Recent posts

  • Refereeing Assistance Programme
  • ARIET fitness test
  • Growth mindset for referees – and how you can adopt one
  • What defines the difference between a referee with a growth mindset vs a fixed mindset

Blogroll

  • Apito do Bicudo
  • Arbitro Internacional (Spanish)
  • CroRef
  • Fifa Concacaf Referees Blog (Spanish)
  • Hong Kong Ref
  • Law 5 – The Referee
  • Officials 101
  • ProReferee – news and store
  • Referee Revolution (Greek)
  • Refereeing the Beautiful Game
  • Referees at Home (Comics)
  • RefereeTip (Portugese)
  • The 3rd Team
  • The Referee (by John King)
  • Third Blind Mouse
  • Topfluit (history of whistles + shop)
  • Refereeing Assistance Programme
  • ARIET fitness test
  • Growth mindset for referees – and how you can adopt one
  • What defines the difference between a referee with a growth mindset vs a fixed mindset
  • Agility training for referees

Dutch Referee Blog - 2024
  • About