Merited Frenchman judges Norway’s battle of fate
Clément Turpin (39) from France will judge the World Cup qualifier between the Netherlands and Norway in Rotterdam on Tuesday.
He has refereed in the French top league since 2008 and became a Fifa referee until years later. Earlier this year was refereed in the Europa League final between Villarreal and Manchester United. The season before, he was a referee when Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s United team beat Ståle Solbakken’s FC Copenhagen 1-0 on a sent penalty kick in the Europa League quarterfinals in Cologne.
Turpin has both European Championship, World Cup and Olympic finals on the merit list, but especially this is the first time he leads a tournament match with a Norwegian team. According to UEFA statistics he has refereed as many as 13 photo matches with Dutch clubs or national teams. last PSV Eindhoven’s away win against Midtjylland in Champions League qualification in August.
However, the NTB archive shows that Turpin refereed Norway’s U21 national team against England in 2011. That match was not included in the European Championship qualifiers or other tournaments and is therefore not registered by Uefa. Stafen Strandberg played the match in Southampton, which Norway lost 0-2.
Turpin refereed the Dutch national team when England were beaten 3-1 in the national league semi-final in 2019.
He refereed at Tuesday’s match arena De Kuip in a Europa League match between Feyenoord and Roma in 2015. At that time, it was both tribune trouble and away win. The first does not happen on Tuesday, but it is allowed to hope for the second.
Turpin joins Nicolas Danos and Cyril Gringore as assistants, while Ruddy Buquet becomes fourth official. François Letexier is VAR manager, assisted by Thomas Leonard.
(© NTB)