The referee of the Samsunspor — Dynamo match has officiated only 12 European cup matches and will referee a Ukrainian team for t

As already reported, the main referee of tomorrow’s 2nd round main stage of the Conference League match between Turkish Samsunspor and Kyiv Dynamo will be Icelander Ivar-Orri Kristjansson.

Ivar-Orri Kristjansson

This 36-year-old referee has been officiating international matches since 2016, but has only officiated 12 European cup matches (8 in the Conference League, 4 in the Europa League) so far. In total, there have been 35 international matches in the Icelander’s career.

Moreover, Kristjansson has never officiated matches involving Ukrainian clubs and national teams.

It’s worth noting that Kristjansson can be considered quite a lenient referee: he shows an average of 4 yellow cards per match, and resorts to direct send-offs in about every 8th match. The Icelander awards penalties on average in every third match.