Tuesday, 23 September 2025

Europa League 2025/26 - Referee Appointments - Matchday 1 (II)

2025-26 UEFA Europa League, Matchday 1. Second set of referee assignments, 25 September 2025.



Thursday 25 September 2025

18:45 CET - Villeneuve d'Ascq (Stade Pierre Mauroy)
LOSC Lille (FRA) - SK Brann (NOR) 
Referee: Allard Lindhout NED
Assistant Referee 1: Rogier Honig NED
Assistant Referee 2: Johan Balder NED
Fourth Official: Jannick van der Laan NED
Video Assistant Referee: Clay Ruperti NED  
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Tamás Bognár NED
UEFA Referee Observer: Paolo Valeri ITA 
UEFA Delegate: Kris Bellon BEL

18:45 CET - Deventer (Stadion De Adelaarshorst)
Go Ahead Eagles (NED) - FC FCSB (ROU) 
Referee: Kristo Tohver EST 
Assistant Referee 1: Silver Koiv EST
Assistant Referee 2: Sander Saga EST
Fourth Official: Kevin Kaivoja EST
Video Assistant Referee: Willy Delajod FRA
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Tiago Martins POR 
UEFA Referee Observer: Lassin Isaksen FRO  
UEFA Delegate: Marc Vouillamoz SUI

21:00 CET - Glasgow (Ibrox Stadium) 
Rangers FC (SCO) - KRC Genk (BEL) 
Referee: Matej Jug SVN
Assistant Referee 1: Matej Žunič SVN
Assistant Referee 2: Manuel Vidali SVN
Fourth Official: Mihael Antič SVN
Video Assistant Referee: Alen Borošak SVN
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Asmir Sagrković SVN
UEFA Referee Observer: Sergejus Slyva LTU
UEFA Delegate: Carlos Filipe de Sá Lucas POR

21:00 CET - Salzburg (RB Arena)
RB Salzburg (AUT) - FC Porto (POR)
Referee: Vassilis Fotias GRE
Assistant Referee 1: Andreas Meintanas GRE
Assistant Referee 2: Michail Papadakis GRE
Fourth Official: Alexandros Tsakalidis GRE
Video Assistant Referee: Angelos Evangelou GRE
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Sören Storks GER
UEFA Referee Observer: Costas Kapitanis CYP
UEFA Delegate: Dušan Gelic SRB

21:00 CET - Villa Park (Birmingham) 
Aston Villa FC (ENG) - Bologna FC 1909 (ITA) 
Referee: Jesús Gil Manzano ESP
Assistant Referee 1: Ángel Nevado ESP
Assistant Referee 2: Guadalupe Porras Ayuso ESP
Fourth Official: José Luis Munuera ESP
Video Assistant Referee: César Soto Grado ESP
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Carlos del Cerro Grande ESP
UEFA Referee Observer: Kyros Vassaras GRE 
UEFA Delegate: Rodney Pisani MLT

21:00 CET - Groupama Arena (Budapest) 
Ferencvárosi TC (HUN) - FC Viktoria Plzeň (CZE)
Referee: Sander van der Eijk NED
Assistant Referee 1: Rens Bluemink NED
Assistant Referee 2: Stefan de Groot NED
Fourth Official: Marc Nagtegaal NED
Video Assistant Referee: Jeroen Manschot NED
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Erwin Blank NED
UEFA Referee Observer: Milorad Mažić SRB
UEFA Delegate: Karl Espen Eriksen NOR

21:00 CET - Bern (Stadion Wankdorf)
BSC Young Boys (SUI) - Panathīnaïkos AO (GRE)
Referee: Ricardo De Burgos ESP
Assistant Referee 1: Iker De Francisco ESP
Assistant Referee 2: Alfredo Rodríguez Moreno ESP
Fourth Official: Alejandro Muñiz Ruiz ESP
Video Assistant Referee: 
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Javier Iglesias Villanueva ESP 
UEFA Referee Observer: Gediminas Mažeika LTU
UEFA Delegate: Ronald Zimmermann GER 

21:00 CET - Stuttgart (MHPArena)
VFB Stuttgart 1893 (GER) - Real Club Celta de Vigo (ESP) 
Referee: Nicholas Walsh SCO
Assistant Referee 1: Francis Connor SCO 
Assistant Referee 2: Ross Macleod SCO
Fourth Official: Christopher Graham SCO
Video Assistant Referee: Kevin Clancy SCO
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Stuart Attwell ENG 
UEFA Referee Observer: Domagoj Vučkov CRO
UEFA Delegate: Alexandr Keplin KAZ

21:00 CET - Utrecht (Stadion Galgenwaard)
FC Utrecht (NED) - Olympique Lyonnais (FRA) 
Referee: Horațiu Feșnic ROU
Assistant Referee 1: Valentin Avram ROU
Assistant Referee 2: Alexandru Cerei ROU
Fourth Official: Rareș Vidican ROU
Video Assistant Referee:Benjamin Brand GER 
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Momčilo Marković SRB
UEFA Referee Observer: John Ward IRL
UEFA Delegate: Tarik Shamel ENG
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7 comments:

  1. Chefren23 September 2025 at 10:30

    And the only Elite referee of this set gets an Italian team.
    What a surprise by Rosetti! :)
    While the assignment can be a rather bad signal for Gil Manzano, no CL but EL, on the other hand one must consider once again the treatment of Italian teams by committee.
    It's incredible to underline how long this situation is lasting.
    As for the rest, the trend of yesterday assignments is confirmed.
    Only Category 1, when possible sparing on the assignments, at moment the big focus by committee is only on Champions League.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous23 September 2025 at 10:48

      @Chefren
      Just to add some nuance: Bologna didn’t receive any special treatment from referees last year, so the appointment of an Elite official now is not necessarily because of the Italian side. In my view, Gil Manzano needed a UEL match after a below par performance, and this particular fixture simply fits his profile best – he is an excellent athlete, and with a Premier League club involved, remember that PL teams usually play at a higher tempo.

      I also notice that data and predictive models are becoming increasingly important in referee assignments. For example, if the data suggests a match will have many high turnovers (high on FoP) that game requires a referee with strong running capacity. I suspect the referee committee is also using this type of analysis nowadays. There is much more to consider than just the nationality of the clubs involved.

      Delete
    2. Nerazzuri23 September 2025 at 11:19

      Probably one of the biggest Europa league matches, so not sure if it's a bad appointment for Manzano.

      Delete
    3. MARIO23 September 2025 at 11:29

      I see a clear demotion, so far, for Gil Manzano, now he seems at level of Greenfeld. Considering 1st class I would say good observer for Van Der Ejik, and probably the less challenging match on the paper is for Thover

      Delete
    4. Chefren23 September 2025 at 13:23

      @Anonymous I respect your opinion and I agree that there are many factors in making appointments. But believe me, I observed the work of the committee for years and I can come to a conclusion. Just to answer about Bologna on last season, the evident difference with today is that they are now in Europa League and so an Elite referee wouldn't be needed, while the previous season they were in Champions League, so games were treated in different way. Bologna hadn't any chance of making progress in that competition. Just to clarify more, committee is fully entitled to make such choices, but it is evident how they work in this aspect. Yes, Gil Manzano is a very good runner, but all Elite referees on paper could get English teams. I don't see an extreme need of assigning him to this game exactly for this reson. And he could have got all the other Europa League games instead of this one, I can't have doubts that it was a specific choice to send him in Birmingham only for the Italian team involved.
      Remember that he already officiated Aston Villa at home against another Italian team, Juventus, some years ago.
      So, there are patterns that repeat themselves over the years; some teams from certain countries are always treated the same way by the committee, without a doubt.

      Delete
  2. Andrei23 September 2025 at 11:42

    Did you think Tamas Bognar lately gained trust from the committee (especially after Women's Euro)?

    ReplyDelete

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