Hear from the Icelandic referee that is taking charge of a Danske Bank Premiership match this weekend

The 29-year-old arrived in Northern Ireland on Friday morning along with assistant referees Egill Gudvardur Gudlaugsson and Kristján Már Ólafs ahead of their Solitude assignment.

Jónasson was the man in the middle when Crusaders lost 2-1 to FC Bruno’s Magpies of Gibraltar in UEFA Europa Conference League qualifying last summer and earlier this month took charge of Liverpool vs FC Porto in the UEFA Youth League – which ended in a 25-man brawl and a linesman narrowly avoiding being struck following the Reds’ penalty victory.

He has also shared the pitch with Barcelona’s youth in the same competition and built up further experience in underage international football, refereeing at the 2022 U17 European Championships and Jónasson can’t wait for his Northern Irish experience, which has been delayed by a few years.

"I'm really excited,” he said. “I was supposed to have a game in the league three years ago but it was cancelled because of Covid. It's nice to have the opportunity to come over.

"There's a programme that has been going on for quite a few years. We will come over this weekend to do a game and then during the summer some referees will come over from Northern Ireland to referee in our league."

According to Transfermarkt data, Jónasson has handed out 884 yellow and 50 red cards – 34 of which were straight dismissals – in 265 games across competitions alongside awarding 104 penalties.

His most recent matches have been in the Lengjubikar karla – the Icelandic Men's Football League Cup, which is a pre-season tournament due to their domestic league running between April and October – and Jónasson feels refereeing in different environments can only help the officials improve.

"It's massive,” he added. “It gets you out of your comfort zone so you have to adapt on the fly and it's a really good opportunity, especially coming from a relatively small country like Iceland where everybody knows everybody.

"Dealing with players is sort of like dealing with your friends in a way because it's such a small group. It's a good opportunity to get to experience new players and especially new styles of play.

"I don't know much about the league but we have got the opportunity to see a few of the earlier games from the teams to prepare mentally and tactically for the game.

"I've done a game in Europe with a Northern Irish team before so I think I can understand the mentality and the playing style quite well.

"I also did a game where I was fourth official for a (Northern Ireland) under-21 international in the autumn of 2022. It was brilliant.

"The assistant referees are people that I work with all the time - it's kind of my team in a way. It's basically going abroad with your friends - it's perfect. We are really looking forward to it."

Saturday’s Danske Bank Premiership matches: Carrick Rangers vs Glentoran, Cliftonville vs Dungannon Swifts, Glenavon vs Coleraine, Linfield vs Newry City, Portadown vs Crusaders.