Wednesday 25 May 2022

2021/22 UEFA Europa Conference League final AS Roma (ITA) - Feyenoord (NED) - Referee István Kovács (ROU) - Discussion

The first edition of UEFA Europa Conference League final will be officiated by István Kovács. Good luck and let's comment his performance here!



25 May 2022, 21:00 CET - Tirana (Arena Kombëtare)
AS Roma (ITA) - Feyenoord (NED) 
Referee: István Kovács (ROU)
Assistant Referee 1: Vasile Florin Marinescu (ROU)
Assistant Referee 2: Ovidiu Artene (ROU)
Fourth Official: Sandro Schärer (SUI)
Video Assistant Referee: Marco Fritz (GER)
Assistant Video Assistant Referees: Christian Dingert (GER), Bastian Dankert (GER) 
UEFA Referee Observer: Sokol Jareci (ALB) 
UEFA Delegate: Fernand Meese (BEL)

62 comments:

  1. Correct YC to FEY player for SPA

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  2. Very good onside by AR2 Ovidiu Artene prior to 1-0

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  3. It's just a boring game in 1st half, so easy for Kovacs so far, but I think it will be very intense one in 2nd half

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    1. I don't think it will get better. It's a C-final. CL is the A. Europa League is B. This is C. The interest for this game is only there because there is nothing else to see this week.

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    2. Look at the teams first not the competition

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  4. Good/expected performance by Kovács at HT.

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  5. Easy game so far with some altercation in 37'where Pellegrini was shown a YC.

    Other YC was to Fey player for SPA,spot on.

    Expecting more challenging 2nd half cause Mourinho's teams are known to pull some tricks when they need to save the lead.

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  6. There is no reserve AR in a UEFA final? The fourth official and all 3 VMOs are referees. What happens if one of the two ARs gets injured?

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    1. Strange, as they did appoint a reserve AR for the Women's Champions League Final with the same number of officials, but not this match.

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    2. I guess this is to keep the on field Team all female in case of injury, while in this game one of the VARs could have filled in

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    3. The problem is that all 3 German VARs are referees, none of them is a specialized AR...

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    4. While in Europa League final there were two (!) ARs in the VAR Room. It just means that UEFA didn’t take this final that serious… a real shame.

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    5. Also, the UECL and UWCL finals only had 2 AVARs, while the UEL and UCL finals have 3 AVARs. All 4 are UEFA club finals, but treated differently...

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  7. OT

    Big call in the 5th minute of Cypriot Cup final. Red card for DOGSO after OFR. Well done by Valeri (VAR). Di Bello correctly changed the initial play-on decision.

    https://youtu.be/0251CbfEzpw?t=8

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    1. Issuing YC in such situation looks like a quite clear mistake for me, unless Di Bello had the classic "final approach" and he wanted to avoid this RC looking for the small support of SPA. Unluckily, Valeri couldn't help him in this regard. LOTG are LOTG even in the early minutes of a final!
      In case of possible SFP, I think VAR would have supported almost everything...

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  8. 52' Pull on Abraham. Dogso/RC? I think the Feyenoord player is rather fortunate there

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    1. Had he thrown himself to the ground...

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    2. I don't think Abraham should be punished for not falling onto the ground. If he did, thats 100% RC. But I can see that it's difficult VAR to intervene here.

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    3. If Kovacs make a call of course automatically it would be red, but it's a good decision from Kovacs (no foul), for me its not enough, Abraham falling too easy.

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    4. I'd say that it was not enough for a foult. At least not in a final, if you know what I mean.

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    5. A very clear foul. He pulled the arm and tripped his leg also.

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    6. Agree it was clear foul by pulling, which clearly had influence on control of the ball by Abraham. Whistling and issuing RC would be very brave and correct decision in this case.

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  9. This holding, in case of whistle, should have been RC for DOGSO, a clear one. But intensity was not enough for a VAR call, in addition, if player had fallen down following the holding, very likely referee would have whistled. Very fair behavior by attacker, and I want to praise it, but it didn't pay in terms of continuing the action!

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    1. Look at the legs. Not only a pull.

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  10. Despite this possible DOGSO I don’t like Kovacs management. He doesn’t feel the game and whistle every little foul. His positioning and moving is constantly in a rush. You can see that he just run instead of reading the game well. His player management is without any communication or body language.

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    1. No body languange? Are you blind?

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  11. IMHO too soft to call a DOGSO and red card watching the dynamics and considering his refereeing

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  12. Why does Mourinho never get a card for his behaviour?

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    1. This is nothing if compared to what he does in serie A, but yes, YC was possible. We saw definitely worse behaviors... and let me say that Kovacs gives always the impression of having a natural body language, coming out from his actions, without the need of saying anything. I think that when Mourinho was protesting, he understood that Kovacs would have booked him in case of persistent behavior... other referees don't give me this idea, but it's my personal feeling I can be wrong :)

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    2. Yes i was also refering the other matches . The sum of his behavior is (also in this game) more then enough for a YC.

      But nevertheless a good game of Kovacs!

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  13. Pretty good performance from Kovacs, maybe a decent 8 mark, although a bit less convincing in foul detection which is too easy to make a call but when Abraham incident happened make Kovacs was in a difficult situation considering this is the final.

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  14. Full expected level by Kovacs, supportable to play on following DOGSO appeal in second half, also good decision if compared to the style he used in this game. As for the rest, no issues. Game was not really challenging, but surely a bit more difficult than "normal". Issuing a YC in the first half of a final must be highlighted nowadays, not all referees do that. So, a very positive note, but of course just as remark, without a "+", because it was expected. The problem is that other referees don't give such cards in finals and we support... under this aspect a "true" refereeing. Mark can easily be 8.4. The good times for the Romanian continue.

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    1. Agree,that is something I did not expect from Kovacs.

      Now for CL final,I expact from Turpin to show no cards at all. 😀

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    2. Chefren, I find it contradictory that you would call the play-on "supportable" on the potential Kovacs DOGSO foul but then praise Valeri above for his intervention in the Cypriot match.

      First, let me say that I think both are clear DOGSO red cards.

      But second, in the Cypriot case we have a foul that is at least close to a shoulder charge. There's a plausible argument that the defender is not trying to foul his opponent. It is a foul in my eyes (and yours) but it is a careless foul. Regardless, he has to be sent off due to the circumstances.

      But in the Kovacs case, we have a deliberate and intentional foul designed purely to stop an OGSO. The Feyenoord defender grabs Abraham and tangles his legs with him. The effect is self-evident. Abraham's breakaway on goal is turned into a situation where he stumbles and cannot maintain his dribble. In other words, the Feyenoord defender deliberately fouled to stop an OGSO and he succeeded.

      So, why is it supportable to play on? Simply because Abraham didn't go to ground?

      I think we cause ourselves, as referees, problems when we see things this way. We have a case of deliberate cheating that was successful and we look for ways to allow it to go unpunished. To me, again, both situations should be red cards. But the Feyenoord situation is actually much worse than the Cypriot one insofar as it being an affront to the game.

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  15. Bad extra time management by Kovacs. In the added time Spinnazola gets a yellow card for throwing away the ball. Yet no extra time is added, the Romanian whistles at 5:01..
    Too bad we see that this behaviour gets rewarded rather then punished. A good rule would be: 1 min extra when those incidents occur (holding/throwing the ball, keeper who takes too much time taking a goal kick etc.)

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  16. I feel that the 52' is that kind of moment when the referee has 2 options: to whistle or not - but in both of them he is right and should get credit, according to the laws. And if you are a smart referee, you choose not to do it.
    Otherwise, what would have happened? RC and massive protests - "Abraham didn't fall, what kind of foult is this?". Last night, maybe suprisingly, from what I saw, only Abraham protested, and neither of Roma's players. Dutch media would have talked a lot about this incident, blaming the referee rather than the team. I am sure that these are UEFA guidelines and Rosetti will be happy with this decision.
    Now Roma won the final, Italian media is quiet regarding the refereeing I think, Roma fans are happy, Feynoord fans bas nothing to complain about, so Kovacs was very good. In my country, media accepted Kovacs's decision, it was considered a key moment judged correct - a strong argument: VAR did not intervene.
    Appart from that, no much to discuss, Kovacs was very good, the difficulty was above medium. Most of comments here on blog were positive, there was only one Anonymous that decided to criticise no matter what, I guess that the negative comments were made by only one person, maximum 2. The vast majority of comments were positive. The mark should be 8.3 - 8.4. And Rosetti can be satified with the the performance delievered. Good times for Kovacs, I predict that he will get a game in June in the Group A3 in Nations League in June.

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  17. Hi there!
    Is there a vid of the DOGSO Situation?

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    1. https://streamff.com/v/79f9d3

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    2. Thank you !

      In my book, the foul is really, really clear. The pull/grab is significant, the defender is clearly preventing the attacker from taking his opportunity by holding his arm.

      This situation is really similar to the Puyol-Robben situation in WC2010 final, where Webb also decided to play on.
      While there is room to support the decision not to whistle, IMO there shouldn't be any other outcome than a DFK and a RC for DOGSO. The attacker is almost penalized to stay on his feet and trying to keep playing, where there is simply zero advantage at the end.

      In a modern football when people complain about easily falls, and exaggerations leading to cheap fouls, it's sad that such misconducts are not penalized.
      But Kovacs is not the one to blame, I wouldn't be surprised if referees were instructed to not whistle this type of fouls, along with the ridiculously obvious impeding fouls.
      UEFA should made clear in their RAPs/ seminars that such LoR offenses has to be deemed as infringements, and subsequent disciplinary actions depending of the situation shall be taken.

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    3. Couldn't agree more, Upstylon!

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  18. Yesterday Maria Sole Ferrieri Caputi officiated a serie C play off semifinal (first leg), and there are more confirmatioms that this summer she will be promoted, becoming the first woman in serie A and B panel from next year. She had a good performance in Feralpisalò - Palermo (a big team, the latter, against a small one).
    It was also the debut of VAR in serie C, only for final stage (with less cameras than the system used in A e B). She was called to OFR for this handball:
    https://streamja.com/29m0p
    Based on the replay from her point of view, I think she could have spotted it live but maybe it happened too far from her to be sure.

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  19. Makkelie for Finalissima?

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    1. Makkelie is in charge of SCO-UKR, on 1 June. Finalissima is on 1 June. Are you sure it will be a UEFA Ref?

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    2. Stéphanie ;)

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  20. Off topic
    At WC 2014, there were 8 knock-out games officiated by a UEFA referee. In 2018 even less: 6 games.

    For WC 2022, there are 10 male UEFA refs selected + Frappart (without AR’s). All 10 men are very experienced names. That makes it hard to predict who - out of those 10 - won’t make it to a knock-out match. I hope it will be all about quality!

    Does Collina have any “favorites” besides Oliver?

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  21. Erik Lambrechts has been elected best referee of the 2021-2022 season in Belgium. He was previously referee of the year in the 2018-2019 season.

    Lambrechts refereed 26 matches in the Belgian First Division this season, 2 matches in the cup and 8 matches in Europe.

    Lambrechts got 174 points. Lawrence Visser became 2nd and got 154 points. Nicolas Laforge was 3rd with 104 points.

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  22. OT
    is anyone watching Halil Umut Meler? How is his performance?

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    1. The German commentator (Sportdigital) said he put in an excellent performance.

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  23. I'm not an anti-feminist but I wonder why female referees are "forced" to referee in the men's World Cup, even though they are only 4th official (most likely), doesn't a young referee like Jovanovic or Kabakov, or anyone else deserve the same opportunity without "gender discrimination", I hope that female referees really only becomes the 4th official, because if Collina chooses to use a female referee to be the middle referee it is very unfair and discriminatory just for the sake of pseudo historical records, as I know the best female referee like Frappart is still level Category 1 in UEFA, it's ridiculous that a category 1 referee can lead a game at the World Cup, isn't very unfair for referee like Kabakov who is also a candidate and his status also still in category 1? Here it is very clear that political agenda has put too much pressure and influence on the main essence of football, including the values ​​of maintaining quality, justice and does not create double standards on the basis of pseudo gender equality.

    @Chefren or another expert on this blog, how about your opinion about around that topic?

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    1. - any other European not-selected besides Hategan/Çakir/Karasëv, even as reserve IMO, would have been (very) exaggerated; so Kabakov and Jovanović can't feel hard done by (with respect, I don't understand how some people wrote the Serbian into the WC race on the blog ngl :D)

      - but on a spectrum, (of course) they are better referees than one of the eleven selected UEFA officials

      - calling Frappart 1st Cat level is very generous IMO... but about, assignments, yes they do mirror a 1st Cat official

      - it is INCREDIBLE how ideology can permeate ALL areas of society, indeed; though I would add that politics/anti-meritocracy has, of course, always been a part of football refereeing

      To be perfectly honest: we have completely failed as a blog vis-à-vis the six selected female officials for Qatar. It is actually our duty, as field experts, to inform those curious enough to look deeply that these women have ONLY BEEN SELECTED BECAUSE OF THEIR SEX. The first thing we should have done is write a post explicitly explaining that, posted it on our Twitter account, etcetera. One must admit that. Personally, I preferred to focus on WC 1990 blog, and avoid social media wars with people calling me sexist. I comforted myself knowing that everyone in refereeing recognises it for being tokenism, and kept quiet. I did also laugh at Mark Clattenburg, who seemingly would claim that two add two equals five so long as it would mean that he keeps his €500.000 annual contract with HFF, writing in his newspaper column that these officials are there "on merit". He appointed Antoniou for a SL1 game, he knows exactly the script to read from. Everyone in the FIFA committee 'room', every single selected official (the women included :/), know exactly why they are there. But they say nothing (publicly).

      There are many more important things in life than football, than football refereeing, than a crack trio of female officials reffing a specially-selected game in Qatar. Many. But in our very (very) niche area of society, we all have to say that we have chosen to stay completely silent on this (very important) issue, and we have to reason that with ourselves. :/

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    2. I agree Michael. These women were not even shortlisted for the World Cup in Qatar, it is very unfair. It is a huge hypocrisy. It doesn't matter that slaves are used and that so many people die in stadium construction and the treatment of women in Arab countries... It's pure propaganda. It is truly disgusting to see where we are getting to. They will talk about gender equality, but these types of measures do not help women at all.

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    3. Please Mikael focus in wc 1990 blog referees and ended it excellent work from you

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    4. I totally agree with Mikael regarding Clattenburg. The only reason for the Antoniou appointment was to renew his contract for a year. This guy offered nothing to Greek refereeing. Instead we even witnessed 3 FIFA referees failing the UEFA LoTG test. Embarrasing. He is head of training. And he managed that.

      Referees are leaving, nobody cares and Greek refereeing is already dead. But 500.000 a year is good money. So why bother?

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  24. Nations League MD1 Predicition
    CZE-SUI Bastien (FRA)
    ESP-POR Letexier (FRA)
    ISR-ISL Bebek (CRO)
    SRB-NOR Osmers (GER)
    SVN-SWE Reinsheiber (ISR)
    GEO-GIB Strukan (CRO)
    CYP-KOS Fesnic (ROU)
    NIR-GRE Vad (HUN)
    BUL-MKD Glova (SVK)
    EST-SMR Daniyar Sakhi (KAZ)

    CRO-AUT Meler (TUR)
    FRA-DEN Manzano (ESP)
    POL-WAL Lechner (AUT)
    BEL-NED Vincic (SVN) 12 days left for Intercontinental play off
    KAZ-AZE Beaton (SCO)
    SVK-BLR Stavrev (MKD)
    LIE-MDA Troleis (FAR)
    LTA-AND Kasumi (KOS)

    HUN-ENG Marciniak (POL)
    ITA-GER Kovács (ROU)
    SCO-ARM Verissimo (POR)
    FIN-BIH Jug (SVN)
    IRL-UKR Raczkowski (POL)
    MNE-ROU Jorgji (ALB)
    LTU-LUX Fuxman (ISR)
    TUR-FAR Orlic (MDA)

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    1. MD 2 predection
      CZE-ESP Sidiropoulos (GRE)
      POR-SUI Oliver (ENG)
      SRB-SVN Kehlet (DEN)
      SWE-NOR Martins (POR)
      CYP-NIR Milanovic (SRB)
      GIB-MKD Hagenes (NOR)
      KOS-GRE Del Cerro (ESP)
      BUL-GEO Lukjancukas (LTU)
      SMR-MLT Fotias (GRE)

      AUT-DEN Massa (ITA)
      CRO-FRA Siebert (GER)
      WAL-NED Peljto (BIH)
      BEL-POL Hernández (ESP)
      ISL-ALB Mariani (ITA)
      BLR-AZE Lambrechts (BEL)
      SVK-KAZ Al Hakim (SWE)
      AND-KAZ De Gabriele (MLT)
      LTA-LIE Griffith (WAL)

      ITA-HUN Sánchez Martinez (ESP)
      GER-ITA Soares Dias (POR)
      ARM-IRL Petrescu (ROU)
      SCO-UKR Ekberg (SWE)
      FIN-MNE Nyberg (SWE)
      BIH-ROU Madden (SCO)
      FAR-LUX Jaanits (EST)
      LTU-TUR Walsh (SCO)

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    2. MD3 predections
      POR-CZE Visser (BEL)
      SUI-ESP Kruzliak (SVK)
      NOR-SVN Kavanagh (ENG)
      SWE-SRB Buquet (FRA)
      KOS-NIR Eskás (NOR)
      GRE-CYP Pinherio (POR)
      GIB-BUL Kardasler (TUR)
      MKD-GEO Higler (NED)
      MLT-EST Berke (HUN)

      DEN-CRO Collum (SCO)
      AUT-FRA Grinfeld (ISR)
      WAL-BEL Stieler (GER)
      NED-POL Taylor (ENG)
      AZE-SVK Di Bello (ITA)
      BLR-KAZ Bel (CRO)
      KAZ-LTA Krusahvili (GEO)
      AND-LIE Marshall (NIR)

      HUN-GER Schärer (SUI)
      ANG-ITA Jovanovic (SRB)
      MNE-BIH Pawson (ENG)
      IRL-SCO Stagemann (GER)
      UKR-ARM Maresca (ITA)
      ROU-FIN Obrenovic (SVN)
      FAR-LTU Burchardt (DEN)
      LUX-TUR Weinberger (AUT)

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    3. MD4 predections
      ESP-CZE Ayteking (GER)
      SUI-POR Kabakov (BUL)
      NOR-SWE Bognár (HUN)
      SVN-SRB Treimanis (LVA)
      NIR-CYP Jovic (CRO)
      MKD-GIB Frappart (FRAÖ
      GEO-BUL Aghayev (AZE)
      GRE-KOS Frankowski (POL)
      MLT-SMR Kuchin (KAZ)

      DEN-AUT Zwayer (GER)
      FRA-CRO Orsato (ITA)
      POL-BEL Turpin (FRA)
      NED-WAL Guida (ITA)
      ISL-ISR Schüttengruber (AUT)
      MDA-SVK Clancy (SCO)
      AZE-BLR Nalbandayan (ARM)

      ENG-HUN Gözübüyük (NED)
      GER-ITA Makkelie (NED)
      ARM-SCO Brisard (FRA)
      UKR-IRL Tohver (EST)
      BIH-FIN De Burgos (ESP)
      ROU-MNE Stefanski (POL)
      LUX-FAR Barcelo (GIB)
      TUR-LTU Cuadra (ESP)
      MDA-AND Chivulete (ROU)
      LIE-LET Harvey (IRL)

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  25. Gomes was assigned CAF CL final after he just reffed a semi-final in the exact same competition very recently! Has that happened before in a top club continental competition?

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  26. Bondo Botswana refereed two matches for ahli Egypt in 32 round 2nd and opening match in group stage in caf champions League 2019/2020

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