The referees in charge of 2024-25 UEFA Europa League Semifinals, second legs.
Thursday 8 May 2025
21:00 CET - Bodø (Aspmyra Stadion)FK BODØ/GLIMT (NOR) [1-3] TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR FC (ENG)
Referee: Maurizio Mariani ITA
Assistant Referee 1: Daniele Bindoni ITA
Assistant Referee 2: Alberto Tegoni ITA
Fourth Official: Matteo Marchetti ITA
Video Assistant Referee: Marco Di Bello ITA
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Michael Fabbri ITA
UEFA Referee Observer: Martin Ingvarsson SWE
UEFA Delegate: Adrian Ixari MDA
21:00 CET - Manchester (Old Trafford)
MANCHESTER UNITED FC (ENG) [3-0] ATHLETIC CLUB (ESP)
Referee: Daniel Siebert GER
Assistant Referee 1: Jan Seidel GER
Assistant Referee 2: Rafael Foltyn GER
Fourth Official: Tobias Stieler GER
Video Assistant Referee: Christian Dingert GER
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Sören Storks GER
UEFA Referee Observer: Kýros Vassáras GRE
UEFA Delegate: Jacques Antenen SUI
Siebert confirmed for Manchester United vs Bilbao. Source: dfb
ReplyDeleteSiebert is referee between Manchester United - Athletic Bilbao
ReplyDeleteManchester United - Athletic Bilbao : Siebert - Seidel, Foltyn - Stieler - Dingert, Storks
Source : DFB Schiris Instagram Story
Mariani for Bodø/Glimt - Tottenham
ReplyDeleteLast season, the finalists (Vincic, Kovacs, and Soares Dias) didn't referee any matches in the semifinals. With that in mind, this season's finalists could be Kovacs (Champions), Letexier (Europa League), and Peljito (Conference).
ReplyDeleteFully agree and honestly it would be a perfect distribution
DeleteI agree and I feel quite confident that that's what's gonna happen
DeleteAgree. With a small chance for an English official, in case of a sensitive PSG-Barca repetition.
DeleteBy the way, remarkable fact: Kovács had 2 OFRs in his last game (QF).
Has it ever happened before that UEFA appointed a referee to the final after the referee had two OFRs in his “final test”?
In fact, the same applies to Letexier (2 OFRs in Real Madrid-Arsenal).
DeletePeljto’s QF performance wasn’t great either tbh.
Yes, makes sense, but I think, Massa with 8 CL games and a good EL QF should be added to the candidates for the finals.
DeleteOverall, I would not judge the OFR as a negative point of a referee performance. I guess that it depends by the kind of OFR; we cannot forget that people asked for VAR indeed to correct potential mistakes or situations difficult to catch on the field and it's now part of the game. IMO to evaluate a ref it's important to discriminate why the OFR happened; in case of crucial mistake by the main referee on the field committed for a mispositioning, distraction, bad evaluation, not application of the LOTG, than I agree that a final match is not deserved. But if the OFR is called just because the referee was forbidden to get the right decision for its intrinsic difficulties, this is not a mistake, VAR is just an help and it should not affect the referee's judgment. Honestly I don't know what were the mentioned cases for Kovacs and Letexier but to me, watching at their carrier, they fully deserve Cl and EL finals.
DeletePeljito is not appointed nor in UEL neither in UECL; I guess he will have a final match
ReplyDeleteOne should mention also Schaerer but the path of the Bosnian was definitely stronger, only the last game was a "so so", but if you make an overall analysis, you can say he deserves a final. Conference League more than expected in case he will get it, while Europa League would be "the big one" for him.
DeleteWe'll see.
No one could have ever predicted in the beginning of the season to see Mariani in a European semi final .... The italian refereeing hierarchy has completely shifted, Mariani seems to be first now ahead of Massa and potentially Guida ...
ReplyDeleteIt's also a question of "Who is the Italian referee available at moment?" Mariani, so we appoint Mariani, because Guida is injured. Guida is still seen as nr. 1 and I think he will attend the World Cup as Italian name, if an Italian referee will be there, but meanwhile, they have to give something to Italy, you understand what I mean. Massa was ruled out from WC preselection and he wasn't excellent in UEFA games, despite of having got many assignments, but yes, there is also a weird aspect in such management by committee. At a certain point they don't care about the referees themselves, but they appoint just to make federations content.
DeleteMariani would have got a call for Club World Cup in case of different ideas by committee, you understand what I mean.
OT: CFF published that Vlado Svilokos will be one of four observers at EURO U-19. Other three observers are Kuipers, Cakir and Elleray.
ReplyDeleteThanks, any chance to get more info about the full list of selected officials, thank to any source? Would be excellent!
DeleteRosetti and Velasco Carballo are basically using the safe BODØ vs Tottenham ties to “establish” a Spanish and Italian referee. So predictable :)
ReplyDeleteNext step is to carry both of them to the FIFA WC 2026 squad. Mark my words.
Exactly, it's clear they "used" the Norwegian team that reached this level of the competition, to appoint the Spanish and now the Italian, otherwise it would have been difficult, with more challenging games, to see them. By reading such details, you can understand how committee works. Nevertheless, it remains very difficult to see both them at 2026 World Cup.
DeleteMariani is having his good times at moment, but Guida is still considered as Italy nr. 1 and the fact that there weren't Italian referees called for Club World Cup should mean that in case they had planned only Guida, but it wasn't possible. Something can change in a year and we are still far, but very hard if not impossible to make it for Mariani. Massa is out as he was ruled out from preselection.
About Spain, Sanchez Martinez will have his chances, at moment he is ahead of Gil Manzano who never recovered after the very famous Ukraine - Italy, EURO 2024 was a disappointment and so far a rather poor career for him is going on. Time to recover? Very hard. Sanchez Martinez should convice committee he can attend a WC, at moment I wouldn't bet on that, but it seems impossible that a major tournament will be played without Spanish referees...
Predictions for the CONCACAF Champions Cup Final and the CAF Champions League Finals?
ReplyDeleteCONCACAF is difficult: I think, one has to mention Penso as only available CWC referee without SF. But of course she has little experience in that competition. However, I also don't see an obvious alternative: Nation, Calderon, Brown, Cornejo or W. Lopez again - but nobody really stands out.
DeleteIn CAF, Sy looks quite obvious. The second name could be Atcho, unless they repeat someone - then Ghorbal, Mutaz and Ndala all seem realistic.
Vancouver Whitecups is canadian football club, but plays in MLS, so no american referee in final for 99% 😉
DeleteI’say Nation or Calderon. And I agree, in CONCACAF nobody really stands out right now TBH.
DeleteUEFA U17 FT Albania
ReplyDeleteReferee: Patrik Kolarić (CRO)
AR: Luka Pajić (CRO)
On next Monday, UEFA will make public the referees for the finals.
ReplyDeleteChefren I dont know if you will agree with me, or not, but candidates are next:
DeleteUCL:Kovacs
UEL:LETEXIER
UECL:PELJTO
SC: NYBERG/ESKAS
If the UEFA Referees Committee wants to take mercy on Chefren, I and all readers of the Law 5 - The Referee blog, they will announce on Monday that Danny Makkelie is going to referee the Champions League Final.
Deletehttps://ibb.co/prjNXVS2
https://ibb.co/LXxW7Njh
To add a random prediction, let's say: Kovacs (cha), Massa (eur) and Peljto (con).
Fully agree with Ref Fot, these are the 4 names to me.
DeleteI am team “Zwayer deserves something”, at the age of (almost) 44 y.o. and a consistent season.
DeleteNations League final: Michael Oliver.
Furthermore, indeed we cannot exclude Sanchez Martinez after being observed by Rizzoli, and Massa, after missing the CWC Squad and the urge to establish a Spanish and Italian candidate for 2026.
IMO, Peljto for the UECL final is the safe bet.
DeleteThen, we have Oliver/Kovács for UCL and Massa/Letexier for UEL. I think UEFA will not give the Romanian the UCL final in order to keep him motivated and Oliver is going to get it while Kovács will get the UNL final as the compensation. As for the UEL final, I think it will be Massa - that no DOGSO foul seems to be somehow accepted by the committee...
Former Dutch FIFA referee Mario van der Ende stated that Szymon Marciniak can referee the CL final, and PSG's participation is not without significance. What do you think?
Delete@ESF: That would be fair, actually. Oliver has been at the European top for a long time. He officiated quarter-finals at the 2020-2022-2024 tournaments. In that respect he is ahead of Kovács. The latter can officiate his 3rd final in 4 years. Add to that the presence of English teams => That could be a different matter next year, with 5 English active clubs teams in the Champions League.
Delete@Samuel: it’s better to take Mario’s opinion with a grain of salt. He’s the Dutch Manuel Gräfe: tries to stay relevant, always criticizing Dutch referees of nowadays. Fun fact, among other things, Mario argues to make VAR ultimately responsible. But I’m sure he wouldn’t have liked that himself in his old days ;-)
@Unknown: Mario van der Ende may still be haunted by the fact that he twice showed the yellow card to Russian Ruslan Pimenow without sending him off during the qualifying match FC Tirol Innsbruck - Lokomotiv Moskva for the Champions League 2001/2002, whereupon UEFA ordered the match to be replayed (refereed by Vitor Manuel Melo Pereira).
Delete@Peter: Interesting. I don’t recall this and Mario never talks about it in local media, it seems.
DeleteOne thing Van der Ende mentioned a couple of times in interviews is that UEFA promised him the Champions League final of 2000, but they couldn’t appoint him due to health issues. And this is even written on his Wiki.
Long time ago we all was on same prediction for UCL and UECL finals, agree with all that Kovac and Peljto are 99% safe names here and well deserved .Peljto fantastic season and very strange he will not go to club world cup but Scandinavian lobby was strong here as we all here can agree at the moment Peljto is better referee then Nyberg or Eskas.
ReplyDeleteUEL I am not sure about Letexier. Very weak last 3,4 months and suspended rest of the season domestic. Last 3 weeks not even VAR domestic and I doubt he will get any game in last week of Ligue 1 .
My money for UEL is on Massa.
Massa with a final this season would be the most nonsense of Refcom, a complete joke. Although Letexier is not at his top level like last year, I don't see him without his EL final.
DeleteI wouldn't say 99% Kovacs in the CL final... don't rule out Oliver.
So, we have two final candidates who do not attend FIFA Club World Cup => PELJTO & MASSA.
ReplyDeleteAnd one final candidate who has been out domestically => LETEXIER.
Interesting to say the least!
I think the Supercup (consolidation price) will go to Sánchez Mártinez. No FIFA CWC for him and there are no Spanish teams in the finals. Easy prediction?
@Chefren and others:
ReplyDeleteDo we know which referees will retire from the big leagues at the end of the season? Brych in Bundesliga, but others?
La Liga has a few retiring due to age. The only one on the FIFA list is Soto Grado. He might continue as Var though like Del Cerro Grande has.
DeleteDaniele Doveri is retiring?
Delete48 years old...
About Italy, no big names retiring.
DeleteWith some new rules, in case of good performance and final ranking, they can continue until 50 years old.
It's Doveri case. The other experienced FIFA referees like Guida and Massa are still far from retirement.
Don't know in detail about other countries.
Chefren, can you tell me about Gianluca Aureliano. Not many games in Serie A this year but always a very safe and steady referee when I watch. What is his rating?
DeleteBig score at Old Trafford, but I think it's an absurd amount of YC applied in this game by Siebert with a tie practically decided. There were 7 in total... including a play of little impact between Nunez and Bruno Fernandes. An easy game that I don't need to complicate with that amount of YC.
ReplyDeleteWell let's anayze them then,but this game was typical Siebert style of officiating.
DeleteMazraoui-reckles hand/elbow to the face,not mandatory but better to give
Jauregizar-stamp,very clear,similar to foul that Zwayer also punished with YC yesterday
Casemiro-reckles,clear
Nunez-maybe soft,but we can say SPA or reckles
Berenguer-running towards ref and protesting,clear
Sannadi-could have opted to not show,but his intention to barge into opponent was evident,Siebert's style cant forgive that
Dorgu-SPA,clearest
No comments suggests it was good night for refs.
ReplyDeleteI watched Manchester vs Bilbao and Siebert was at his good,expected level.
Game could have boiled over at some point when Bilbao were chasing the score,but after United scored,it was much easier.
All 7 cards were justified and his way of calming players was great.
That showed especially when players from Bilbao were hunting United players after they were trailing.
A very calm set of semifinals, indeed no comments at all about Europa League at least during the games) is a "negative" record for the blog :)
ReplyDeleteMy final predictions
ReplyDeleteParis - Inter: Kovacs, Marica, Tunyogi (all ROU), Schärer (SUI) - Higler, van Boekel, Ruperti (all NED)
Tottenham - ManUnited: Letexier, Mugnier, Rahmouni (all FRA), Massa (ITA) - Brisard, Delajod (both FRA), di Paolo (ITA)
Betis - Chelsea: Zwayer, Kempter, Dietz (all GER), Eskas (NOR) - Dankert, Dingert (both GER), Borosak (SVN)
Paris - Inter: Kovacs, Nyberg , Dingbert, Dankert & Popa
DeleteTottenham - ManUnited: Letexier, Scharer, - Brisard, Delajod & San
Betis - Chelsea: Pejito, Massa, Di Paolo, Chiffi & Borosak
My Prediction:
DeleteParis - Inter: REF: Kovacs, IV: Oliver, VAR: Dingert, Dankert & Popa
Tottenham - ManUnited: REF: Letexier, IV: Bastein, - VAR: Brisard, Delajod & Millot
Betis - Chelsea: REF: Pejito, IV: Massa, VAR: Di Paolo, Chiffi & Guida
Paris - Inter: Kovács, Marica, Tunyogi (all ROU), Schärer (SUI) - Higler, van Boekel (both NED), Di Bello (ITA)
DeleteTottenham - ManUnited: Letexier, Mugnier, Rahmouni (all FRA), Nyberg (SWE) - Brisard, Delajod (both FRA), San (SUI)
Betis - Chelsea: Peljto, Ibrišimbegović, Beljo (all BIH), Eskås (NOR) - Dankert, Dingert (both GER), Borošak (SVN)
As it hasn't been mentioned: In the very last minute of Bodo-Tottenham there was a quite wrong penalty decision - rightly removed after OFR.
ReplyDeleteThanks for mentioning, I had missed it.
DeleteSo, not a clean performance by Mariani, but very unlucky, it happened in the very last seconds...
Correct VAR intervention, no foul: very easy to be deceived, it can look like #23 kicks opponent.
https://streambug.org/cv/c9f3f3
My final predictions
ReplyDeletePSG-Inter Kovacs
Tottenham - ManUnited Oliver
(English ref for english teams)
Betis - Chelsea Peljto
The red card given to Wouter Goes was a big topic in the Netherlands this week. (Incidentally, this is only red card for SFP by Bas Nijhuis this season.)
ReplyDeletehttps://youtu.be/cBbQRvS7-VQ?t=532
The case was discussed at a disciplinary committee on Thursday, and even Enric Llansana, who was tackled by Goes, came to his defence: "Wouter has been very unlucky, on images you can see that he touches the ball. He goes for the ball at full speed, this was a football action that should be possible" AZ's lawyers argued that 'the negative atmosphere surrounding Goes was the decisive trigger for the red card.'
Verdict: From three-match suspension, one of which is conditional to a two-match suspension, one of which is conditional. That is, only
one game suspension.
Opinions are still divided in the Netherlands, but my impression is that this time too, things other than rules play a major role in the disciplinary committee in NL.
François Letexier (Mugnier, Rahmouni, VAR Brisard) will handle UAE President Cup final today between Sharjah and Shabab Al-Ahli.
ReplyDeleteBased on this information, I would exclude Letexier from final matches this year. I don't think UEFA would allow and risk a possible injury 2 weeks before the final.
DeleteI agree that this would not be the right management…But with Refcom anything can happen.
DeleteOn the other hand, it is a good opportunity to gain match sharpness, when he is not getting domestic games.
DeleteMy predictions
ReplyDeleteChampions League: coin flip between Kovács and Oliver. Due to the Italian club and no appointment in the semi’s, I’m leaning towards Kovács. I assume that the Romanian has more “fans” in the RefCom. On the other hand, I would consider Oliver a brave choice. In fact, Oliver officiated Inter and PSG this season without any problems, has been at the European top for a long time in the #1 League. He reffed Quarterfinals at Euro 2020, World Cup 2022 and Euro 2024. Oliver is ahead in terms of experience. Kovács has time, recently changed his AR-team and won’t be “bothered” by Romanian clubs teams in upcoming seasons.
Europa League: I think the appointment of Zwayer in the semi is telling A LOT. According to many, the German was the leading candidate, however Rosetti obviously had other plans, this had to compensate Zwayer and German FA with a big semi-final. You can tell that referees missing out on the FIFA CWC squad are heavily compensated, hence I also put my money on Massa (not a lot though ;-)). Letexier has time and didn’t have his best season. In addition, there is no urge to compensate the French FA after the EURO final last season and two referees at FIFA CWC.
Conference League: Peljto is an easy guess. With Betis in the final, a Spanish referee is not possible. Same argument: “sorry Peljto, you are not going to FIFA CWC, however you will get the Conference League final”.
Nations League: the referee who doesn‘t get the Champions League final? Kovács or Oliver. I don’t entirely rule out Nyberg though.
FIFA CWC opening match: Vincic.
Supercup: Sánchez Mártinez.
What are your predictions for the UEFA Nations League semi-finals?
Delete@Unknown I didn't know that Oliver had so many finals in European cups. So, Kovacs had two finals and Oliver none. And the last english referee ho had a final was Taylor, not Oliver. So, how could Oliver to be more experienced than Kovacs in european cup finals? And European and World Cup are diferent than european cups. So, and you din't asnwered for my question. Are you Pavel Fernandez or not? I wait for the response.
DeleteAny info about Letexier performance today?
ReplyDeleteI see 9 yellow cards, 5 in first half.
Agree that is very strange to have this game before UEL final and domestic suspension plus not optimal performance in Madrid could rule him out and only 36 years he will get his finals for sure in future.
Kovac or Oliver for UCL final are 100%.
But with strong lobby we can se surprise in both UEL(mostly because of recent problem Letexier have) and UECL.
@ Chefren do you have any news if there is any rumors that Massa might get one of these finals?
I think Chefren is preparing for a sh*tload of comments about UEFA appointing a "mediocre Italian ref" in a UEFA final :-)
ReplyDeleteWhen again was the last Italian in a final - Orsato 2020? Or should we count Colombo's Youth League final as well?
Another political factor that could be taken into account is Frappart (FRA) being available for the Women's Champions League, after Lyon is out. I think one of the alternatives was the Italian.
Szymon Marciniak is reportedly to be a referee for the UEL final!
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ReplyDelete