Sunday, 28 September 2025

Champions League 2025/26 - Referee Appointments - Matchday 2 (I)

2025-26 UEFA Champions League, referee appointments for the first set of MD2 games, to be played on Tuesday 30 September 2025.


30 September 2025

18:45 CET - Bergamo (Stadio di Bergamo) 
ATALANTA BC (ITA) - CLUB BRUGGE (BEL)
Referee: Espen Eskås NOR
Assistant Referee 1: Jan Erik Engan NOR
Assistant Referee 2: Isaak Elias Bashevkin NOR
Fourth Official: Rohit Saggi NOR
Video Assistant Referee: Bastian Dankert GER 
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Sören Storks GER
UEFA Referee Observer: Stéphane Lannoy FRA
UEFA Delegate: Jenni Kennedy ENG

18:45 CET - Almaty (Almaty Ortalyk Stadion)
QAİRAT FK (KAZ) - REAL MADRID CF (ESP)
Referee: Marco Guida ITA 
Assistant Referee 1: Giorgio Peretti ITA
Assistant Referee 2: Giuseppe Perrotti ITA
Fourth Official: Simone Sozza ITA
Video Assistant Referee: Marco Di Bello ITA
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Aleandro Di Paolo ITA 
UEFA Referee Observer: Dejan Filipović SRB
UEFA Delegate: Loukas Siotropos GRE

21:00 CET - Milan (Stadio Giuseppe Meazza) 
FC INTERNAZIONALE (ITA) - SK SLAVIA PRAHA (CZE) 
Referee: Christopher Kavanagh ENG
Assistant Referee 1: Daniel Cook ENG
Assistant Referee 2: Ian Hussin ENG
Fourth Official: Robert Jones ENG
Video Assistant Referee: Jarred Gillett AUS
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Tiago Bruno Lopes Martins POR
UEFA Referee Observer: Uno Tutk EST 
UEFA Delegate: Kurt Zuppinger SUI

21:00 CET - London (Stamford Bridge) 
CHELSEA FC (ENG) - SL BENFICA (POR)
Referee: Daniel Siebert GER
Assistant Referee 1: Jan Siedel GER
Assistant Referee 2: Rafael Foltyn GER
Fourth Official: Sascha Stegemann GER
Video Assistant Referee: Christian Dingert GER
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Tomasz Kwiatkowski POL
UEFA Referee Observer: Vlado Svilokos CRO
UEFA Delegate: Lennart Vestervall SWE

21:00 CET - Bodø (Aspmyra)
FK BODØ/GLIMT (NOR) - TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR FC (ENG) 
Referee: Ivan Kružliak SVK
Assistant Referee 1: Branislav Hancko SVK
Assistant Referee 2: Jan Pozor SVK
Fourth Official: Peter Kralović SVK
Video Assistant Referee: Bram Van Driessche BEL
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Bert Put BEL
UEFA Referee Observer: Alexandru Deaconu ROU 
UEFA Delegate: Peter Lundström FIN

21:00 CET - Marseille (Vélodrome) 
OLYMPIQUE DE MARSEILLE (FRA) - AFC AJAX (NED) 
Referee: Anhony Taylor ENG
Assistant Referee 1: Gary Beswick ENG
Assistant Referee 2: Adam Nunn ENG 
Fourth Official: John Brooks ENG
Video Assistant Referee: Michael Salisbury ENG
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Carlos del Cerro Grande ESP
UEFA Referee Observer: Edgar Steinborn GER
UEFA Delegate: Emil Ubias CZE 

21:00 CET - Istanbul (RAMS Park)
GALATASARAY SK (TUR) - LIVERPOOL FC (ENG)
Referee: Clément Turpin FRA
Assistant Referee 1: Nicolas Danos FRA
Assistant Referee 2: Benjamin Pages FRA
Fourth Official: Jérémy Stinat FRA
Video Assistant Referee: Jérôme Brisard FRA
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Mathieu Vernice FRA
UEFA Referee Observer: Bernardino González Vázquez ESP
UEFA Delegate: Milovan Đukanović MNE

21:00 CET - Limassol (Alphamega Stadium)
PAFOS FC (CYP) - FC BAYERN MÜNCHEN (GER)
Referee: Manfredas Lukjančukas LTU
Assistant Referee 1: Mangirdas Mirauskas LTU
Assistant Referee 2: Aleksandras Stepanovas LTU
Fourth Official: Vilius Paulauskas LTU
Video Assistant Referee: Guillermo Cuadra Fernández ESP
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Javier Iglesias Villanueva ESP
UEFA Referee Observer: László Vagner HUN
UEFA Delegate: Camelia Nicolae ROU

21:00 CET - Madrid (Estadio Metropolitano)
CLUB ATLÉTICO DE MADRID (ESP) - EINTRACHT FRANKFURT (GER) 
Referee: Slavko Vinčić SVN
Assistant Referee 1: Tomaž Klančnik SVN
Assistant Referee 2: Andraz Kovačič SVN
Fourth Official: Matej Jug SVN
Video Assistant Referee: Alen Borošak SVN
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Pol van Boekel NED 
UEFA Referee Observer: Leslie Irvine NIR
UEFA Delegate: Giel Kirkels NED

19 comments:

  1. Personally I think that it is a well deserved appointment for Siebert, he was excellent in DEN-SCO just a few weeks ago.

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  2. Siebert last game in europe was Fenerbahce-Benfica (UCL playoff ) now He will referee Benfica again. Hmmm

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    1. Probably could have been managed better.

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    2. that time, Mourinho was Fenerbahce coach, now he is Benfica coach :) This is another detail 😁

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  3. Chevren how do you interprate absence of any Portugal or Netherlands referees in champions league at least until now at the same we see some referees appointed two consecutive matches

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    1. About Portugal, Pinheiro is out because in Chile for U20 World Cup. After him, there aren't at moment options if not a debut for Godinho, as we discussed, and I think this could happen, but generally, the situation of the country is not that good, despite of being one of the most important European federation.
      Netherlands: at this point we will surely have a Dutch referee on Wednesday, or maybe boh, the confirmation should be that van Boekel is AVAR in Vincic game on Tuesday, so expected to work as main VAR on Wednesday. We will know tomorrow, possible that both Makkelie and Gozubuyuk will appear.

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    2. Mr chevren do you want to say luis godinho, antonio nobre , or Portugal generally has not referee that have the capacity to handle champions league match at the same time Lithuania have this or Slovenia or any country

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  4. And other countries like Lithuania, Slovakia ، slovenia, Poland has presence !!!!

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  5. How we can believe countries like Norway, Slovakia, slovenia, Poland, Lithuania have better referees than Portugal or Spain

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  6. Last night i watch luis godinho handle sporting and estrol and Wednesday freiburg vs basel I think he is one best referees now in Europe how we don't see in champions league

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    1. The issue in your arguments is assuming that a comparison between certain countries is mandatory, that it has to be that way. In reality, the matter is much more complex in terms of refereeing. There can also be moments or periods when, for some circumstances, referees from a certain country reach a higher level compared to others. Now, this doesn't exclude the fact that referees from countries like Slovenia and Poland can produce outstanding referees, unlike other nations, such as Portugal, where, and I agree here, a very strong refereeing school should be developed. However, this does not always happen. Still, you can't put them on the same level, in the sense that there is still room for a referee from Portugal, just as there is room for a referee from Slovenia or Poland, and it is exactly y the job of the European head of refereeing to bring everything together.

      One can criticize Rosetti's working methodology, but in this regard, you can't reduce the discussion to such a simplistic consideration. Every aspect must be evaluated, and it must be understood that you cannot reason exclusively in terms of countries and their refereeing representation. At a certain point, other factors come into play. Moreover, the perspective must be holistic. Right now, we are talking about the second matchday of the Champions League, and what you see here doesn't apply as universal criterion Perhaps in a few months’ round, you will see more Portuguese and Dutch referees and fewer from other nations. I would invite people to analyze all components before drawing conclusions. It is not a discussion that should be approached in the way you are doing it. And, of course, evaluations are always subjective, you can say you appreciated the Portuguese referee in a particular match, and that could true, but we are not the ones to choose or make all the necessary evaluations. This is my point of view, trying to explain as clearly as possible how it should work, while everyone remains free to have their own opinions.

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    2. Mr chevren with all due respect for you I felt there is favouritism for some country it is not from the quality

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  7. Mr chevren I felt some think is wrong why is give not given the Portugal referees like what is given italy referees or Slovenia referees now Lithuania have two referees in champions league and have not any referee until now !!!

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    1. I think that if you are already mentioning countries like Portugal, which have not been considered in the current season yet (as Chefren correctly clarified, some of them are currently participating in FIFA tournaments), you could also have noticed that Austria has so far been completely left out as well (Champions League + Europa League + Conference League + even Youth League). I assume that we might see some of them this week, but concrete conclusions can only be drawn after several matchdays. However, limiting it to Portugal and the Netherlands is a bit too narrow. From my point of view, I can say that Austria has not had a referee in the Champions League for a very long time, nor have they been assigned the most attractive matches in the Europa and Conference Leagues. When I read the evaluations of their performances in this forum, however, I get the impression that this is (unfortunately) understandable.

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  8. After Barbu on Friday, yesterday it was Goga Kikacheishvili's turn to referee in Kuwait. I must say, UEFA has a real star in its midst with this young Georgian referee, who handled the game in an excellent and very impressive manner - with a lesser official, I'm without doubt that the match would have finished in a big mess. Kikacheishvili had impressed me a lot by the way he refereed some games under UEFA auspices, but the level of difficulty in this Kuwaiti tie was much higher.

    The only area of contention comes from this handball incident below; the VAR was also Georgian, Giorgi Avazashvili:

    https://www.streambug.io/cv/f51290

    Meanwhile, Florian Badstubner refereed for the second time in Saudi Arabia this season, and gave a red card which he stuck to after VAR intervention (by Robert Schroder):

    https://streambug.org/cv/2248a1

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    1. Aware that these games are very niche affairs, and that it doesn't make sense to write exhaustively about all of them on Law5 (besides really remarkable incidents, like in Barbu's game), I decided to make this blog page which I'll update with the appointments and then perhaps some clips/reports on the matches that I can watch or report on. Feel free to comment with anything I've missed or that is worth discussing!

      https://mikaelreferee.blogspot.com/p/dispatches.html

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  9. Siebert with Benfica and Mourinho,Chelsea and their run of matches where they get plenty cards.

    Could be challenging for him.

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  10. Dear Abdiaziz,
    Take it easy. We read the name of a Portuguese AVAR [Tiago Bruno Lopes Martins], so in my view, it is possible that we will see a Portuguese referee on Wednesday. If Kavanagh can be assigned, then e.g. Nobre likely can too. Early in the season, Rosetti aims to keep all associations satisfied; they all get representation, and quality does not take precedence.

    Other names for Wednesday are probably Marciniak [Kwiatkowski], another Italian [Di Paolo], a Spaniard [Carlos DCG], and Gözübüyük [Van Boekel].

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  11. Good news for Lukjančukas, after the arguments we introduced on the blog. He will be back in Champions League with big team away but expected win.
    About Vincic, it's important to underline that Borosak is back as VAR, after a rather difficult period. This game is not a very top clash, but a good one between Spain and Germany, so maybe ideal for recovering in terms of performance from Nyon's VAR room (German VAR was not possible).
    Turpin: here committee made an appointment based on the atmosphere, rather than on the level of the game. While Turkish side showed a very low level of football, they are very attentive with referees' decisions, and at home Rosetti doesn't want to take any risk. But only looking at teams, a different choice would have been made.
    Taylor with a second appearance in Marseille: again, I really don't understand how some people can think he can get Spanish and/or Italian teams, it's impossible and so this one seems a very good one involving French and Dutch side. I would even describe it as a game close to the maximum level that the experienced English can reach at moment in the European top clubs competition.
    Kruzliak, liked by Rosetti despite of many unconvincing performances, but still, the merit of the Italian head of refereeing is to have awakened the Slovakian from his lethargic moment years ago and now I assume it would be a pity to abandon him. There are a few arguments based on that, but still he is very far away from Elite full level. Here Bodo makes everything in terms of choice, Norwegian team used for the scope of appointing the referee from Slovakia.
    Kavanagh in San Siro, not an Elite referee for Italian team, finally, but yes, the game speaks for itself. Still one should be very worried, it seems Brooks had this very long break for the injury and now again apart from Taylor and Oliver there aren't options for a development (Kavanagh can't reach more than that for me).
    Siebert in London: very good game, at moment the level of Portuguese teams seems to be not the same as years ago, but still a nice clash for the German who is in a positive moment.
    Eskås will referee the famous Atalanta - Club Brugge, after the mistake by Meler. Very importantr signal for him, big trust, Atalanta should have many hopes on this game, and it wil be a very open one.
    Dankert is sent as VAR and that's not a case, strong name to avoid controversy (still, on paper...). To be watched!
    Last but not least, Guida with a second game as well: one could have expected Massa (maybe he will appear on Wednesday?) but after the serious mistake in his last UEFA game (missed red card), it's possible a change. Here we must wait tomorrow to understand more, if better game for Massa than Guida, no argument, while on the contrary, what I think could be right. At first glance, one should only say no need to see Guida again so early for a second game. About the game itself, as I discussed days ago, even Category 1 was possible, but it depended on how committee would have read the match, you should add the enthusiasm from Kazakhstan fans and it will be surely a historic game, even tough maybe without real
    concerns for the officials.

    About Wednesday games: we see Marciniak VAR as AVAR, so the Polish could be in charge on Wednesday, while Van Boekel should mean either Gozuyubuk or Makkelie, possible we will see both with another VAR. Still no Dutch so far, and one is mandatory for next set of assignments.
    Carlos Del Cerro appointed as well and I think it could be Gil Manzano with a second assignment or Hernandez Hernandez in charge (but very negative opinions about the referee from Canary Islands so far...).
    Maybe also Lambrechts in charge, with Belgian VAR on Tuesday.
    We'll see.

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