{"id":689559,"date":"2026-07-13T16:26:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T16:26:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/689559\/"},"modified":"2026-07-13T16:26:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T16:26:13","slug":"rob-dieperink-dutch-referee-dies-aged-38-weeks-after-being-dropped-from-world-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/689559\/","title":{"rendered":"Rob Dieperink: Dutch referee dies aged 38, weeks after being dropped from World Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dutch football referee Rob Dieperink has died weeks after he was dropped from officiating at the World Cup following a police investigation in the UK.<\/p>\n

Dieperink had been selected to be a video assistant referee (VAR) official at this summer’s tournament, but was removed from Fifa’s list of World Cup officials in May.<\/p>\n

The 38-year-old was arrested by the Metropolitan Police in April following a report of a sexual assault against a teenage boy, but the case was dropped because of a lack of evidence.<\/p>\n

The Netherlands’ football association, the KNVB, said they were “shocked and deeply saddened” by Dieperink’s death.<\/p>\n

His cause of death has not been disclosed.<\/p>\n

“With Rob, we lose a highly valued referee, but above all a kind and dedicated colleague,” the KNVB said in a statement.<\/p>\n

“Our thoughts go out to his family, friends, and everyone who held him dear. We wish them much strength and support in processing this great loss.”<\/p>\n

Dieperink had refereed in the Eredivisie since 2017 and was a VAR official at Euro 2024.<\/p>\n

After he was dropped from the World Cup, Dieperink said he had been “wrongly accused” in an interview with Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf, external<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“It saddens me greatly that I have been wrongly accused,” he said.<\/p>\n

“From the beginning, I have fully cooperated in the police investigation and also immediately gave full openness to Fifa, Uefa and the KNVB.<\/p>\n

“I am grateful for the support I have received from the KNVB and the way in which they have dealt with this case. It is a pity that Fifa has decided not to appoint me for the World Cup any more, of course I am disappointed about that.”<\/p>\n

Dieperink was the VAR for Crystal Palace’s 3-0 Europa Conference League quarter-final first-leg win over Fiorentina on 9 April.<\/p>\n

A Metropolitan Police statement said: “On Thursday, 9 April, officers responded to a report of a sexual assault against a teenage boy, which occurred at an address on Wellesley Road, Croydon.<\/p>\n

“A man in his 30s was subsequently arrested on suspicion of sexual assault.<\/p>\n

“Officers completed a thorough investigation and reviewed all available evidence, including gathering CCTV and examining digital devices.<\/p>\n

“Following these enquiries, they concluded that the evidential threshold had not been met. No further action will be taken.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dutch football referee Rob Dieperink has died weeks after he was dropped from officiating at the World Cup…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":689560,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":["post-689559","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/689559","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=689559"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/689559\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/689560"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=689559"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=689559"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=689559"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}