The Trossard lookalike in charge of Euro 2024 opener

Clement Turpin will get the European Championship under way on Friday night as hosts Germany take on Scotland — and he may look familiar to Premier League fans.

That’s because Turpin shares an uncanny resemblance to Arsenal and Belgium forward Leandro Trossard. So much so, when the Frenchman took charge of Arsenal’s round of 16 clash with Porto in March some fans were convinced he was Trossard’s brother.

The 42-year-old, who is not related to the Belgian, will be blowing his whistle to kick off proceedings in Germany in what is his fifth major tournament.

For each tournament — barring the most recent World Cup in 2022 — Turpin officiated two group-stage games. In Qatar, he took charge of two group games before being named as the man in the middle for his biggest international game to date: Brazil’s 4-1 win over South Korea in the last 16.

He is vastly experienced and one of France’s leading referees and his CV proves that. At the end of the 2015-16 season he was voted the best referee in Ligue 1 by the French Football Federation.

In 2022, he was the referee for Real Madrid’s 1-0 win over Liverpool in the Champions League final in Paris, with Turpin only brandishing one yellow card throughout the match. A year earlier he took charge of Villarreal’s penalty 11-10 shootout win in the Europa League final against Manchester United.

This will be his third European Championship after taking charge of games in 2016 and 2021. He was also one of the officials at the Olympic games in Brazil in 2016 and has  been on the pitch for the 2018 and 2022 World Cup tournaments in Russia and Qatar.

When he took charge of the Champions League quarter-final between Manchester City and Bayern Munich in 2023 he was criticised by former England defender Rio Ferdinand who said he wanted it to be “more about him” than the game.

Turpin has had his fair share of praise too and received some for his performance when in charge of the first leg of the Champions League semi-final between Bayern Munich and Real Madrid.

World Referee have described him as a “calm and authoritative presence” on the pitch. He is a referee who will be keen to set a positive tone for the tournament in the opening match.

(Photo by Jose Breton/Pics Action/NurPhoto via Getty Images)