Referee documentary “Man in the Middle” by Uefa: Interview with Björn Kuipers

SPIEGEL: Mr Kuipers, Uefa has released a new documentary on referees (“Man in the Middle”) and in one scene you can see you yelling at Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi, telling him not to waste time and to show a little more respect. How does it feel to fold Messi in the full Camp Nou?

Kuipers: It may feel strange or spectacular to you. It’s normal for me. I have to yell at Messi too, that’s part of my job. Because of that, I have some sort of reckoning with him and with no other player, so I don’t have to reduce anger or anything in such situations. I just want the game to go on quickly. You have to remind the pros of that sometimes.

SPIEGEL: The tens of thousands of fans are celebrating Messi right now – and you are being whistled. It is now the case that in the wake of the corona crisis, hardly any spectators or no spectators are allowed into the stadiums. But there is fan criticism of referees on social networks. Read the?

Kuipers: A lot of referees actually do that. But I don’t have Twitter, Facebook or Instagram. Maybe it’s a little bit of self-protection, but it’s also like this: What should I find out there? I will hardly read that I made a great game, just what was supposed to be wrong. You can then discuss it forever, everyone, even someone who is completely clueless, is allowed to say something without us arriving at a clear result in the end. I like to listen to criticism, but only from experts: from my bosses and my wife.

SPIEGEL: Referees are now equipped with various technology: headset, goal alarm, heart rate monitor. In which situations on the pitch does your heart beat particularly quickly?

Kuipers: When a counterattack occurs after a corner and I suddenly have to sprint in the other direction, my pulse is racing too.

SPIEGEL: Okay, everyone does. Otherwise nothing can disturb you?

Kuipers: The video assistant and the ability to review every critical decision made me much more relaxed. Critical moments like penalties, for example, relax me more: foul, whistle, waiting for the VAR, because I can take a moment to relax. But what is exhausting are critical moments in the first few minutes when you have to deal with it immediately. These are real stress tests, also for the head.

SPIEGEL: What happens to you if you realize at half-time that you have made a clearly wrong decision?

Kuipers: Fortunately, with the VAR, that doesn’t actually happen anymore. But I still remember that in 2015 I wrongly sent Zlatan Ibrahimović off the field after 31 minutes in a Champions League game between Paris and Chelsea. It wasn’t a red card, but a yellow card. A mistake that I admitted straight away and also apologized to Ibrahimović during the break. But I couldn’t go back.

SPIEGEL: In moments like this, is there a tendency, possibly unconsciously, to favor the team that was disadvantaged in the first half in the second half? Keyword: concession decision.

Kuipers: I hope nobody does that. It’s quite simple: one mistake would only be followed by a second mistake. Then you would not only have whistled a bad game, but a really bad one.

SPIEGEL: Overall, it sounds a bit like the VAR has made your job less exciting.

Kuipers: And that’s a pretty good development. I personally don’t need that excitement. The fewer mistakes, the better it is. But I can understand criticism of the VAR, sometimes it takes too long until we have made a decision. But don’t forget that this technology is still a new one – we’re still learning.

SPIEGEL: Which types of players do you find more strenuous: someone like Sergio Ramos, who repeatedly works with hidden fouls and tests the limits of what is allowed, or rather someone like Jadon Sancho, who is damn quick and is often fouled.

Kuipers: Clearly players like Sancho are the most difficult. You would have to be practically as fast as him, you would have to check every contact you have made against him, but it’s hard to keep track of that, and that’s why the VAR is a help in such cases. With Sergio Ramos, however, I have no problem at all. He’s a professional, a great personality who always wants to win. I really appreciate players like that.

SPIEGEL: Have there been games in your career that you felt like throwing out and quitting?

Kuipers: There were, but I was still a young referee who had to lead games in the lower grades and without an assistant. This was the time when the pressure was greatest for me, and in those years it was important to me that someone caught me after mistakes. My family or my bosses, who once said: “Let it go, football is not everything.” You need a strong environment to survive as a referee. In the past ten years I haven’t thought about quitting. I have a great team around me today, I have become more relaxed myself and just have a lot of fun whistling.