REFEREE Daniel Siebert is set to take part in one of the most important football events of the year.
Read on to find out more about the German national’s 26 years refereeing at top flight matches ahead of the tournament.
Who is Daniel Siebert?
Daniel Siebert is a German football referee affiliated with FC Nordost Berlin from the Berlin Football Association.
Born on May 4, 1984, he officiates international matches as a Fifa referee and holds a Uefa elite category ranking.
The part-time school teacher started his journey into officiating in 1998 and in 2007 he was appointed a Bundesliga referee by the DFB.
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Siebert then spent three years in the German second tier before making the step up to Germany’s top flight.
The 40-year-old is ranked as a Uefa first category referee, a term given to a group of referees classified as among Uefa’s best.
Siebert has brandished 147 yellow cards and just two red cards in 33 matches covering more than 10 different competitions.
The German refereed Arsenal’s Europa League last-16 second leg victory against Olympiacos in March 2021.
Has Daniel Siebert officiated at major tournaments before?
In October 2014, Siebert was selected as a Fifa referee, the youngest of the ten German representatives at the time.
He first appeared on the international stage as a referee on May 29, 2015, during the 2015 UEFA European Under-19 Championship qualifier between Portugal and Turkey.
His inaugural senior international game was the friendly between Luxembourg and Moldova on June 9, 2015.
During the 2020 European Championship, Siebert was the referee for three games.
These were Scotland vs Czech Republic, and Sweden vs Slovakia in the group stage, and the round of 16 clash between Wales and Denmark.
In the 2021 Fifa Arab Cup, he officiated four matches, including the final between Tunisia and Algeria.
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There was some controversy during the 2022 World Cup in Qatar when Siebert was accused of making contact with Tunisian midfielder Ellyes Skhiri on his desperate run to stop an impending Socceroos goal.
Many fans believed he deserved a yellow card, while those in favour of the goal say Skhiri had no real chance of chasing down Australian Riley McGree.
Siebert is one of 19 referees taking part in the Euros 2024.
His team includes assistant referees Rafael Foltyn and Jan Seidel.
He said: "Now that I’m here, I can fully realise that I am part of the referee team for the EURO in Germany.
"I am thankful and happy to be selected for this tournament. It feels great."
What else has Daniel Siebert done before?
Speaking to German news outlet Morgen Post in 2014, Siebert stated that becoming a referee was a “dream come true”.
At the time of his appointment, Siebert was a part-time substitute teacher at the Hohenschönhausen Sports School based in Berlin.
He is said to still teach today.
Has Daniel Siebert used VAR before?
VAR is used in the Bundesliga, so Siebert is used to it.
The ref used VAR during the match between Ghana and Uruguay during a World Cup qualifier in December 2022.
Uruguay was momentarily hopeful of being awarded a penalty when VAR recommended that the referee review Daniel Amartey's tackle on Darwin Nunez at the monitor.
This incident marked only the second instance in the tournament where a referee decided not to overturn their original call.
The first occurred when a penalty claim for Denmark against Tunisia was dismissed.
The decision-maker then carefully examined the play from multiple perspectives before determining that he had not made a clear and obvious error.
Although Amartey did touch the ball, he seemed to also make contact with the forward and the referee's decision to stick with his initial call was bold.
Uruguayan striker Edinson Cavani called for the referee to be “put in jail” after the national team crashed out of the World Cup at the group stage.
Following this, Siebert did not receive further assignments and soon returned to Germany.