Chelsea and Bayern Munich legend Arjen Robben has been accused of “mistreating” a referee during an FC Groningen youth game.
Robben coaches the U14s team at Groningen and the Eredivise club has denied claims that he Robben was aggressive towards a referee during a youth match between Groningen and Viktoria over the weekend.
In a video uploaded to social media, Robben appears to admonish a referee he is speaking with and also appears to dismiss and then push Wilfred Genee — a Dutch TV presenter — who gets involved in the situation.
Genee’s son plays for Viktoria’s U14 team. Robben’s son plays for Groningen’s U14s.
Groningen deny that Robben had “mistreated” the referee in a statement posted on X:
“FC Groningen feels the need to respond to the accusations directed at our colleague Arjen Robben by Wilfred Genee.
“The club denies that Arjen mistreated the referee during or around the match, which has now also been confirmed by the referee himself. What we see and know is that Arjen is fanatical and enthusiastic as a trainer/coach.
“During the break, he is in conversation with the referee, during which Wilfred Genee — who is present there as a parent — uninvitedly interferes with this conversation, after he had already, unasked, ventured onto the field earlier during the warm-up.
“As football clubs, we acknowledge together with the KNVB that parental interference around the football field constitutes a recurring problem that we consider undesirable.
“Since this is a personal conversation between the coach and the referee, we as a club believe that parents should not interfere with this. And because Arjen, in our view, does nothing improper, we consider this matter closed.
“Arjen has let us know that he has no desire to devote any further attention to this and is fully focusing on his role as trainer/coach.”
Robben first came to recognition at Groningen, after he broke out of the youth ranks and played for the first time for two years from 2000 to 2002, before moving to PSV.
Robben then went on to enjoy a glittering career, including three years at Chelsea, where he won two Premier League titles and an FA Cup, two years at Real Madrid, where he won one LaLiga title, and a decade at Bayern Munich — where he won the Bundesliga title eight times, along with the Champions League — in which he scored the winning goal in the final — and five DFB Pokals.
