2024-25 UEFA Nations League, referee appointments for Play-Offs (Second Legs)
15:00 CET - Tbilisi (Boris Paichadzis Dinamo Arena)
GEORGIA [3-0] ARMENIA
Referee: Anthony Taylor ENG
Assistant Referee 1: Gary Beswick ENG
Assistant Referee 2: Adam Nunn ENG
Fourth Official: Robert Jones ENG
Video Assistant Referee: Darren England ENG
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Stuart Attwell ENG
UEFA Referee Observer: Martin Ingvarsson SWE
UEFA Delegate: Mauro Tonolini ITA
18:00 CET - Budapest (Puskás Aréna)
HUNGARY [1-3] TÜRKİYE
Referee: Felix Zwayer GER
Assistant Referee 1: Robert Kempter GER
Assistant Referee 2: Christian Dietz GER
Fourth Official: Florian Badstübner GER
Video Assistant Referee: Bastian Dankert GER
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Patrick Hanslbauer GER
UEFA Referee Observer: Carlos Velasco Carballo ESP
UEFA Delegate: Thura Win ENG
18:00 CET - Belgrade (Stadion Rajko Mitić)
SERBIA [1-1] AUSTRIA
Referee: José María Sánchez Martínez ESP
Assistant Referee 1: Raúl Cabañero Martínez ESP
Assistant Referee 2: Íñigo Prieto López de Ceraín ESP
Fourth Official: Alejandro Muñiz Ruiz ESP
Video Assistant Referee: Juan Martínez Munuera ESP
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Guillermo Cuadra Fernández ESP
UEFA Referee Observer: Darko Čeferin SVN
UEFA Delegate: Mark Bos NED
18:00 CET - Glasgow (Hampden Park)
SCOTLAND [1-0] GREECE
Referee: Davide Massa ITA
Assistant Referee 1: Filippo Meli ITA
Assistant Referee 2: Stefano Alassio ITA
Fourth Official: Fabio Maresca ITA
Video Assistant Referee: Daniele Chiffi ITA
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Valerio Marini ITA
UEFA Referee Observer: Jørn West Larsen DEN
UEFA Delegate: Patrick Wattebled FRA
18:00 CET - Murcia (Estadio Enrique Roca de Murcia)
ICELAND [1-2] KOSOVO
Referee: Jesús Gil Manzano ESP
Assistant Referee 1: Diego Barbero Sevilla ESP
Assistant Referee 2: Ángel Nevado Rodríguez ESP
Fourth Official: César Soto Grado ESP
Video Assistant Referee: Carlos del Cerro Grande ESP
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: José Luis Munuera Montero ESP
UEFA Referee Observer: Matteo Simone Trefoloni ITA
UEFA Delegate: Damir Stipković CRO
18:00 CET - Ljubljana (Stadion Stožice)
SLOVENIA [0-0] SLOVAKIA
Referee: Istvan Kovacs ROU
Assistant Referee 1: Mihai Marius Marica ROU
Assistant Referee 2: Ferencz Tunyogi ROU
Fourth Official: Marcel Bîrsan ROU
Video Assistant Referee: Cătălin Sorin Popa ROU
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Constantin Sebastian Colțescu ROU
UEFA Referee Observer: Cyril Zimmermann SUI
UEFA Delegate: Andrey Medintsev BUL
20:45 CET - Genk (Cegeka Arena)
BELGIUM [1-3] UKRAINE
Referee: Daniel Siebert GER
Assistant Referee 1: Rafael Foltyn GER
Assistant Referee 2: Dominik Schaal GER
Fourth Official: Daniel Schlager GER
Video Assistant Referee: Pascal Müller GER
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Katrin Rafalski GER
UEFA Referee Observer: Stefan Meßner AUT
UEFA Delegate: Kim Hallberg DEN
20:45 CET - Dublin (Aviva Stadium)
REPUBLIC OF IRELAND [2-1] BULGARIA
Referee: Halil Umut Meler TUR
Assistant Referee 1: İbrahim Çağlar Uyarcan TUR
Assistant Referee 2: Abdullah Bora Özkara TUR
Fourth Official: Mehmet Türkmen TUR
Video Assistant Referee: Dennis Johan Higler NED
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Ingmar Oostrom NED
UEFA Referee Observer: Martin Hansson SWE
UEFA Delegate: Peter Oskam NED
I'm really starting to believe now that Anthony Taylor is selected to referee the champions league final this year if none of the English teams left in the tournament make it that far
ReplyDeletethis appointments are absolute jokes compared to last season
the so called 'hidden appointsments' to protect a referee are really given to him this season, also to Danny Makkelie by the way
It's really sad UEFA is doing this in the last years, apart from marciniak,
because in my opinion: the best referee who is yet to whistle the champions league final is his career should be appointed
in this case that should definitely be Francois Letexier
I guess, we could start the discussion again, whether Taylor and Makkelie are hidden with regard to a final or just out of favour at the moment. Probably we have to wait for the appointments in the rest of the season to really know.
DeleteAnd I agree, that the final appointments should be made based on the performance in that season - so you need some top appointments before to show your abilities.
Having said that, this appointment for Taylor maybe isn't too bad, if we look at the other names selected for the League B/C play-off second legs.
Zwayer observed by Velasco surely indicates, that he is considered for a final.
IMO good to see Meler back. So he should also be an option for following EL/ECL games.
But there is a clear difference for me, while maybe you can think that Taylor could get big games at moment, even involving big national teams, this seems impossible for me, after the very famous story at EURO. Can you imagine him handling Germany, Spain, Italy and so on? So the choice for him among quarterfinals was almost impossible, and even if committee wanted to give him something important, they couldn't.
DeleteWhile it's very different for Makkelie who could officiate on paper all games, and indeed I think it can look like a specific choice to save him. Same can't be said for the English at moment in my opinion.
But FRA-CRO and POR-DEN would have been possible for him.
DeleteSo even with the restrictions on the countries, they could have found a better game for Taylor, if they really wanted. Same in CL: PSG-Brest and Barca-Benfica would have been adequate games, so it was a deliberate choice not to give him a CL KO game.
I'm surprised that there's so much speculation about Anthony Taylor being nominated for a final this season. Even though he can't be called up for several countries, he seems to be receiving significantly less (lower-profile) appointments than Michael Oliver. Furthermore, I think - despite comparable performances - the two Englishmen have been treated very unevenly in the past. So, also for this reason, I believe the time has rather come for Michael Oliver.
DeleteZwayer observed by a committee member in Hungary and the return of Meler are the two hot arguments of this set. I was about to write that the Turkish could have got a game in this competition, because Nations League is clearly seen below the level of clubs competitions by committee, and they selected the least sonorous one, with Bulgaria and Ireland. It's good for him, now I think a Conference League game could follow if he will perform well in this game (I think special eyes by committee in this particular regard, if compared to other referees appointed). For Zwayer a very important test, still no with a top game, but it is possible it will be a challenging one.
ReplyDeleteTo follow, based on ths choice about Spanish referees and the games they got, it seems to me Sanchez Martinez seems to be a bit ahead at moment, but this can change and clearly Gil Manzano is coming from a rather poor period. Big name for Slovenia with Kovacs, after an Italian referee in first leg. Massa with Chiffi, different VAR, but Di Paolo was appointed with another referee (Petrescu, yesterday). It's interesting to see Maresca as fourth official, specific choice, to give him some international stage after the very long period of stop.
If Zwayer is monitored to officiate a UEFA final, which one?
ReplyDeleteChampions League: two German teams still active. Suppose they are eliminated, is Zwayer qualified enough to referee sth like a sensitive Real Madrid vs Barca in a final? I think a full Spanish final is out of Zwayer’s “league” (I don’t consider the German as the strongest personality) and therefore expect that Real-Barca will be allocated to Letexier. In PSG vs Barcelona/Inter, would it be a possible to see Zwayer in the final? Yes, probably.
Europa League is an option. Although I was impressed by Frankfurt's intensity in Amsterdam. Lets see how far they can go.
Conference League final is definitely possible, without any German teams.
I guess CL Final would be definitely to much for Zwayer at the moment (in the next 2-3 years he will be a strong candidate though).
DeleteIf no English teams make it to the Europa League final, I think this one should be reserved for Oliver (he has not refereed any real UEFA final even though he has such a long (and successful) career already). I know he’s not in his best shape in PL this season but internationally he has been very good. Now starting with Conference League or Nations League final would be a bit disappointing if you ask me.
So what remains is the Conference League final for Zwayer and I strongly believe he is Nr 1 candidate for this one.
Kovacs slowly becoming Čeferin’s favourite referee or what?
ReplyDeleteReal-City
El-Khalaifi's PSG against Liverpool;
And now the country of the UEFA president ;-)
Do Kovács his groupstage performances really justify this "management"? He was poor in Bayern-PSG and in Belgrade. His disciplinary, positioning and control have been questioned a lot of times. Most referees would be out of favour for a loooong time after Czechia-Turkey.
What would have been his faith had it been Italy, PSG or Slovenia?
You can tell Kovács is also massively backed by a certain Greek…
Delete@Unknown: I could not confirm István Kovács being massively backed by Nana Mouskouri.
Peter :D
DeleteVideo:
ReplyDeletehttps://streambug.org/cv/0a7c06
Poor mistake in Women's Clásico, officiated by Olatz Rivera Olmedo after her Women's Champions League game on last Tuesday.
A factual crucial mistake, in a very decisive moment of the game (worst possible scenario): would have been, if confirmed, 2-1 by Barça a few before the end of second half, but then Real won the game. AR1 (Andrea Peña Peña) assessed an offside because she thought that last touch had been by attacker and not defender (you can see it was by a Real Madrid player and when last touch by Barça all attackers were clearly ONSIDE). The players tried also to say that to referee, who hadn't seen it. Also, unacceptable mobbing and some scene that can remember us the famous incident involving Moen... I think that a referee who is now ranked as Spanish nr. 1 must see that and help the assistant referee. But even if this is not possible, we must underline once again how much different is the affair between Men's and Women's football at top level. Women's EURO will have VAR... I think that something must change if we want a development of the Women's movement.
I think Huerta De Aza is still Spain's number 1. All 4 referee's in the UWCL this week were referee's who probably aren't guaranteed to be at the euros so they might have been trial matches for this summer..
DeleteI'm very curious about the selection - there are indeed some names that could be out. However, in particular regarding Spain I think that Marta Huerta was a bit excluded after rather unconvincing performances in top games (maybe Rivera Olmedo is seen as fit referee, but of course this alone can't be enough).
DeleteNext week there will be committee member Damková in London for Arsenal - Real Madrid, we will see who will get it, but I have my idea. Since I guess an Italian "battle" as well Ferrieri Caputi - Gasperotti (raising star), one could think about the latter. She had a very accelerated career in UEFA categories, until Elite (but well, exactly the same was for Ferrieri Caputi, so she can't compain).
Now, being on the topic, I want also to say that after a rather quite good first year and beginning of the second in serie A and B, Maria Sole Ferrieri Caputi seems to be a bit lost, she didn't get a serie A game for a long time. She had also many international assignments ruling her out from the chance to build more at home, and now, I must say, some interesting plans for her seem to have been totally abandoned by committee for some aspects, it is a pity). But, apart from the technical project, I don't see the same interest as before by domestic committee to appoint her in serie A. The same could be said for the Women's management by UEFA...
Challenging first half for Felix Zwayer in Budapest. Hungarian players entered the game extremely motivated. Some incidents (videos after the game):
ReplyDelete05' - first conflict close to AR1
14' - rough charging by 5HUN, a YC could have been issued but Zwayer opted for warning what is still acceptable
17' - another conflict after challenge by 11HUN
21' - excellent YC 5HUN for another charging from behind, great reading by Zwayer
30' - YC 16TUR for SPA holding, mandatory
37' - Penalty awarded to Türkiye, correct; possible 2YC to 5HUN for reckless tackle?
43' - YC 7TUR for reckless follow-through studs tackle; possible RC for SFP?
45' - Missed (at least) YC 10HUN for kick in the head; possible RC for SFP?
José María Sánchez Martínez is replaced by fourth official Alejandro Muñiz Ruiz at half-time of Serbia-Austria
ReplyDeleteComical opener for Serbia...
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete