Björn Kuipers whistles on Saturday evening, when Ajax and PSV compete for the Johan Cruijff Scale, the last match of his career. The KNVB and the 48-year-old leader look back on his career in a video based on fourteen photos, where he discusses, among other things, his debut, highlights and also a single low. The 2014 World Cup remains a somewhat black page in his nearly twenty-year career as a top referee.
“The 2014 World Cup is the biggest disappointment of my career,” Kuipers states plainly. “I can’t really say that anymore if you look at what we all went through afterwards and when you look back on it. It was a super cool period, but the world championship when I think back. . . Kuipers whistled a perfect tournament in his own mind. “We did the Italy – England match, that’s what we started with. That went very well. Then we got France – Switzerland. That actually went very well. And then we got the eighth final, again in the Maracaná??, which was Colombia against Uruguay. A South American clash. Full of tension. It also went very well.”
“Those were three top games that we had whistled well and we were actually on our way to perhaps the final battle, the final of a world championship. But there was another team on its way to the final and that was Louis van Gaal’s team”, Kuipers looks back with a smile. The referee praises the way in which the national coach, who is now in his third period with the the Dutch, managed to turn ‘a team into a real team’. “They eventually made it to the semi-finals against Argentina and we received a message from Massimo Busacca, FIFA’s head of refereeing affairs. He said: ‘Björn, I’m very sorry, but we have to send you home. But it’s not the FIFA who is sending you home, it’s Louis van Gaal and his team who is sending you home’.”
“That was a very embarrassing moment for me. On the other hand, I thought it was super cool that the Dutch was on its way to the final. But what made it so sour is that in the end neither of us made it to the final.” Kuipers acknowledges that he wanted to end his career after the World Cup in Brazil. “I thought: It’s been nice. I was really disappointed that we were so close to a World Cup final and I also thought it would never get that close again. That was kind of my feeling. But in the end we persevered and we ended up at the 2018 World Cup as well.”
Kuipers describes the World Cup in Russia as ‘a successful tournament’. “Stayed from start to finish, right up to the final. I was fourth in that. I whistled four games and actually participated in every round. Two group matches, eighth finals, quarter finals and in the semi-finals and the final I was the fourth man.” After missing out on an apparent appointment for the final of the 2014 World Cup, Kuipers really wanted to whistle a final of a country tournament. That eventually became the final of the European Championship this summer, Italy – England. “At Wembley, the sacred grass, two top countries. My father in the stands, my wife, my children. That really made it a dream for me to lead this race.”
Kuipers is looking forward to his last trick, the battle for the Johan Cruijff Scale. “We have whistled them before, we have also been able to lead four cup finals. Maybe I should have stopped immediately after the European Championship, but I really wanted to say goodbye in the Netherlands. Saying goodbye in the Netherlands in a stadium with an audience. And not like the past year and a half. What could be even more beautiful and better than a match between Ajax and PSV?” The referee has invited people who have meant a lot to him in his career as a referee. “Afterwards we will have a snack and a drink and raise a glass to having been allowed to whistle at the top for almost twenty years.”