2025/26 UEFA Champions League Matchday 5, referee assignments for the first set of games, to be played on 25 November 2025.
25 November 2025
18:45 CET - Amsterdam (Johan Cruijff ArenA)
AFC AJAX (NED) - SL BENFICA (POR)
Referee: Sven Jablonski GER
Assistant Referee 1: Eduard Beitinger GER
Assistant Referee 2: Stefan Lupp GER
Fourth Official: Tobias Reichel GER
Video Assistant Referee: Robert Schröder GER
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Sören Storks GER
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Sören Storks GER
UEFA Referee Observer:
UEFA Delegate: Kuanysh Kanapyanov KAZ
18:45 CET - Istanbul (RAMS Park)
GALATASARAY (TUR) - ROYALE UNION SAINT-GILLOISE (BEL)
Referee: José María Sánchez ESP
Assistant Referee 1: Raúl Cabañero ESP
Assistant Referee 2: Iñigo Prieto ESP
Fourth Official: Alejandro Muñiz Ruiz ESP
Video Assistant Referee: Carlos Del Cerro Grande ESP
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Javier Iglesias Villanueva ESP
UEFA Referee Observer:
UEFA Delegate: David Andrew McDowell Zhor SVN
21:00 CET - City (Etihad Stadium)
MANCHESTER CITY FC (ENG) - BAYER 04 LEVERKUSEN (GER)
Referee: João Pinheiro POR
Assistant Referee 1: Bruno Jesus POR
Assistant Referee 2: Luciano Maia POR
Fourth Official: João Gonçalves POR
Video Assistant Referee: Tiago Martins POR
Assistant Video Assistant Referee:
UEFA Referee Observer:
UEFA Delegate: María Medina Jiménez ESP
21:00 CET - London (Stamford Bridge)
CHELSEA FC (ENG) - FC BARCELONA (ESP)
Referee: Slavko Vinčić SVN
Assistant Referee 1: Tomaž Klančnik SVN
Assistant Referee 2: Andraž Kovačič SVN
Assistant Referee 1: Tomaž Klančnik SVN
Assistant Referee 2: Andraž Kovačič SVN
Fourth Official: David Šmajc SVN
Video Assistant Referee: Christian Dingert GER
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Benjamin Brand GER
UEFA Referee Observer: Gylfi Þór Orrason ISL
UEFA Delegate: Rudolf Řepka CZE
21:00 CET - Dortmund (Signal Iduna Park)
BORUSSIA DORTMUND (GER) - VILLARREAL CF (ESP)
Referee: Davide Massa ITA
Assistant Referee 1: Stefano Alassio ITA
Assistant Referee 2: Alessio Berti ITA
Fourth Official: Rosario Abisso ITA
Video Assistant Referee: Daniele Chiffi ITA
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Michael Salisbury ENG
UEFA Referee Observer:
UEFA Delegate: Gerard Lawlor NIR
21:00 CET - Naples (Stadio Diego Armando Maradona)
SSC NAPOLI (ITA) - QARABAĞ FK (AZE)
Referee: Szymon Marciniak POL
Assistant Referee 1: Tomasz Listkiewicz POL
Assistant Referee 2: Adam Kupsik POL
Fourth Official: Wojciech Myc POL
Video Assistant Referee: Pol van Boekel NED
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Ivan Bebek CRO
UEFA Referee Observer:
UEFA Delegate: Peadar Ryan IRL
21:00 CET - Prague (Eden Aréna)
SK SLAVIA PRAHA (CZE) - ATHLETIC CLUB (ESP)
Referee: Donatas Rumšas LTU
Assistant Referee 1: Aleksandr Radiuš LTUAssistant Referee 2: Dovydas Sužiedėlis LTU
Fourth Official: Robertas Valikonis LTU
Video Assistant Referee: Clay Ruperti NED
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Erwin Blank NED
UEFA Referee Observer:
UEFA Delegate: Zgjim Sojeva KOS
21:00 CET - Bodø (Aspmyra)
FK BODØ/GLIMT (NOR) - JUVENTUS FC (ITA)
Referee: Danny Makkelie NED
Assistant Referee 1: Hessel Steegstra NED
Assistant Referee 2: Jan de Vries NED
Fourth Official: Allard Lindhout NED
Video Assistant Referee: Bram Van Driessche BEL
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Guillermo Cuadra Fernández ESP
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Guillermo Cuadra Fernández ESP
UEFA Referee Observer:
UEFA Delegate: Kim Hallberg DEN
21:00 CET - Marseille (Vélodrome)
OLYMPIQUE DE MARSEILLE (FRA) - NEWCASTLE UNITED 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: Aleandro Di Paolo ITA
UEFA Referee Observer:
UEFA Delegate: Loukas Siotropos GRE
Juventus and Napoli, due to their delicate position in the standing, get Makkelie and Marciniak, both are more than used to such tasks. Nothing new under Rosetti's management... even if the games are not that big, appointments are made based on this criterion.
ReplyDeleteGood analysis in this regard by an anonymous comment, once again. To add about Marciniak, his last game with Napoli was Napoli - Milan in Champion League in which he had been criticized, especially for the work of Polish VAR, so I think this is also a choice to allow him to meet again the Italian side at home (absolutely no matter about the Azeri team for committee, they could assign them all referees). Marciniak this time will be with Van Boekel.
To follow, honestly after Kuipers observation in Athletic - Arsenal, MD1, one could have expected something bigger for the Lithuanian to follow, but still getting CL without any downgrade to Europa League was a rather good signal. Nevertheless, this one, involving the Czech side and once again the Spanish club from Basque country is not the top tie one could have predicted. He could have got something a bit more challenging. And he will repeat Athletic. To me it's a rather poor management, there are only "sufficient" elements to say that Kuipers assessed as OK his outing on September, but surely at moment nothing more than that. Let's then wait for the rest of assignments in less than a hour.
Should we look for something behind the foreign VAR for Makkelie?
ReplyDeleteThe rest of assignments is out. Observers not released, so it seems the idea by committee is to keep them private, but Slovenian federation revealed the name of Vincic observer in London, this means that there wasn't any communication by UEFA about that, but only a choice. We will see how it will continue. In this set surely one can think about a very important observer, maybe a committee member, for Jablonski in Amsterdam. Unexpcted second game for him, not for the performance but because it was maybe too early to think about that. So very likely it was assessed as very good perfomance on debut, Pafos - Villarreal.
ReplyDeleteOn another note, Stieler seems to be totally out of favor, while we heard that Siebert is at moment injured, if I remember correctly, so also other factors can explain this choice.
To follow, a rather regular assignment for Sanchez Martinz in Istanbul, with home team in a very good position against the Belgian site. Here the choice by committee could have been a referee with less experience than the Spanish, but we know how they treat home games of Galatasaray.
Marseille - Newcastle follows as new assignment in CL flor Mariani to give him games after the Under 20 WC absence, and also coming from two WC Qualifiers, I think they did enough to "realign" him. Despite of the technical outcome, for sure. Think about another referee with that missed RC in Paris. What would have happened? Here the difference of treatment is more than evident.
Having already said about Vincic in London, for a Champions League classic game (my prediction about Massa was wrong, indeed it would have been too much for the Italian), we must underline again the VAR, Dingert, for the Slovenia. Of course this game was impossible for Borosak. The game is a very big one with Ovrebo memory, but of course in terms of real stake, it's nothing, only three points in group stage, and this can relieve the Slovenian officials.
What said for Mariani, back from U20, can be said for Pinheiro, getting now games. Nevertheless, my idea is that they push the Portuguese, but differently from other referees, with a clear border, and the border is evident when I ready City - Leverkusen as game, definitely a nice one, but many factors talking about a flexible assignment, if you ask me. He is rather a referee for English and German teams with his style, more difficult, honestly, with Spanish and/or Italian clashes.
Then, Massa: all said was valid, reason for being out in serie A was this CL game, but not a big one, rather a quite good clash between a German and a Spanish, in what we can describe as medium level of media exposure.