Second set of referees' assignments for MD4, games to be played on 5 November 2025.
5 November 2025
18:45 CET - Baku (Tofiq Bəhramov adına Respublika Stadionu)
QARABAĞ FK (AZE) - CHELSEA FC (ENG)Assistant Referee 1: Roland Riedel AUT
Assistant Referee 2: Santino Schreiner AUT
Fourth Official: Walter Altmann AUT
Video Assistant Referee: Manuel Schuettengruber AUT
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Josef Spurny AUT
UEFA Referee Observer: Stefan Johannesson SWE
UEFA Delegate: Adrian Ixari MDA
18:45 CET - Limassol (Alphamega Stadium)
PAFOS FC (CYP) - VILLARREAL CF (ESP)Referee: Sven Jablonski GER
Assistant Referee 1: Eduard Beitinger GER
Assistant Referee 2: Lasse Koslowski GER
Fourth Official: Tobias Reichel GER
Video Assistant Referee: Sören Storks GER
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Johann Pfeifer GER
Assistant Referee 1: Eduard Beitinger GER
Assistant Referee 2: Lasse Koslowski GER
Fourth Official: Tobias Reichel GER
Video Assistant Referee: Sören Storks GER
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Johann Pfeifer GER
UEFA Referee Observer: Tomasz Mikulski POL
UEFA Delegate: Andrey Medintsev BUL
21:00 CET - Manchester (Etihad Stadium)
MANCHESTER CITY FC (ENG) - BORUSSIA DORTMUND (GER)Referee: Szymon Marciniak POL
Assistant Referee 1: Tomasz Listkiewicz POL
Assistant Referee 2: Adam Kupsik POL
Fourth Official: Paweł Raczkowski POL
Video Assistant Referee: Tomasz Kwiatkowski POL
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Piotr Lasyk POL
Assistant Referee 1: Tomasz Listkiewicz POL
Assistant Referee 2: Adam Kupsik POL
Fourth Official: Paweł Raczkowski POL
Video Assistant Referee: Tomasz Kwiatkowski POL
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Piotr Lasyk POL
UEFA Referee Observer: Thomas Einwaller AUT
UEFA Delegate: Radenko Mijatović SVN
21:00 CET - Milan (Stadio Giuseppe Meazza)
FC INTERNAZIONALE MILANO (ITA) - QAİRAT FK (KAZ)Referee: Luis Godinho POR
Assistant Referee 1: Rui Teixeira POR
Assistant Referee 2: Pedro Almeida POR
Fourth Official: António Nobre POR
Video Assistant Referee: André Narciso POR
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Tiago Martins POR
Assistant Referee 1: Rui Teixeira POR
Assistant Referee 2: Pedro Almeida POR
Fourth Official: António Nobre POR
Video Assistant Referee: André Narciso POR
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Tiago Martins POR
UEFA Referee Observer: Alberto Undiano Mallenco ESP
UEFA Delegate: Raili Ellermaa EST
21:00 CET - Lisbon (Estádio do Sport Lisboa e Benfica)
SL BENFICA (POR) - BAYER 04 LEVERKUSEN (GER)Referee: Simone Sozza ITA
Assistant Referee 1: Filippo Meli ITA
Assistant Referee 2: Alessio Berti ITA
Fourth Official: Davide Massa ITA
Assistant Referee 1: Filippo Meli ITA
Assistant Referee 2: Alessio Berti ITA
Fourth Official: Davide Massa ITA
Video Assistant Referee: Aleandro Di Paolo ITA
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Marco Di Bello ITA
UEFA Referee Observer: Björn Kuipers NED
UEFA Delegate: René Siegrist SUI
21:00 CET - Bruges (Jan Breydelstadion)
CLUB BRUGGE KV (BEL) - FC BARCELONA (ESP)Referee: Anthony Taylor ENG
Assistant Referee 1: Gary Beswick ENG
Assistant Referee 2: Adam Nunn ENG
Fourth Official: Christopher Kavanagh ENG
Assistant Referee 1: Gary Beswick ENG
Assistant Referee 2: Adam Nunn ENG
Fourth Official: Christopher Kavanagh ENG
Video Assistant Referee: Stuart Attwell ENG
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Andrew Dallas SCO
UEFA Referee Observer: Ante Vučemilović CRO
UEFA Delegate: Peter Oskam NED
21:00 CET - Amsterdam (Johan Cruijff ArenA)
AFX AJAX (NED) - GALATASARAY (TUR)Referee: Benoît Bastien FRA
Assistant Referee 1: Hicham Zakrani FRA
Assistant Referee 2: Aurélien Berthomieu FRA
Fourth Official: Thomas Leonard FRA
Video Assistant Referee: Willy Delajod FRA
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Bram Van Driessche BEL
Assistant Referee 2: Aurélien Berthomieu FRA
Fourth Official: Thomas Leonard FRA
Video Assistant Referee: Willy Delajod FRA
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Bram Van Driessche BEL
UEFA Referee Observer: Vladimir Petrov UKR
UEFA Delegate: Paul Lyon GIB
21:00 CET - Marseille (Vélodrome)
OLYMPIQUE DE MARSEILLE (FRA) - ATALANTA BC (ITA)Assistant Referee 1: Raúl Cabañero ESP
Assistant Referee 2: Iñigo Prieto ESP
Fourth Official: César Soto Grado ESP
Video Assistant Referee: Guillermo Cuadra Fernández ESP
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Pol van Boekel NED
UEFA Referee Observer: Mehmet Murat Ilgaz TUR
UEFA Delegate: Mark Blackbourne ENG
21:00 CET - Newcastle (St James' Park)
NEWCASTLE UNITED FC (ENG) - ATHLETIC CLUB (ESP)Referee: Ivan Kružliak SVK
Assistant Referee 1: Branislav Hancko SVK
Assistant Referee 2: Jan Pozor SVK
Fourth Official: Peter Kralović SVK
Video Assistant Referee: Fedayi San SUI
Assistant Referee 1: Branislav Hancko SVK
Assistant Referee 2: Jan Pozor SVK
Fourth Official: Peter Kralović SVK
Video Assistant Referee: Fedayi San SUI
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Bastian Dankert GER
UEFA Referee Observer: Vítor Melo Pereira POR
UEFA Delegate: Christian Kofoed DEN
Debut for Sozza, normal appointments for Marciniak, Kruzliak, Taylor and Sanchez Martinez
ReplyDeleteDebut for Gishamer and Jablonski as well
DeleteBut not for Sozza ...
DeleteNot for sozza. he refereed the
DeleteBrugge-Monaco game
Sozza already made his debut in Club Brugge - AS Monaco, 18 September. This is a second game (with committee member). Observed for a promotion, I think, would be the fourth Italian Elite..
DeleteI think now that our portuguese fan is happy now because are 2 portuguese referee, Pinheiro and Godinho.
ReplyDeleteI fear that he will not be entirely satisfied, as they continue not to officiate games involving Spanish participation.
DeleteThis was a question I asked yesterday and no one has answered yet.
DeleteThis is probably because UEFA does not disclose its assignment policy, and therefore we can only speculate. From my point of view, however, it also makes more sense—purely from a geographical perspective—to assign a Portuguese referee, for example, to a match like Italy vs. Germany rather than Spain vs. England. Especially in the League Phase, where there is still more flexibility.
DeletePrevious is was normal to see Portuguese referee a match for Spanish also Spanish so I don't the reason I remember for euro final between spain vs italy also alot of matches champions the it's not clear
DeleteIn my perception, it was also not very common in the past to see Portuguese referees in Spain matches. For example, if I take Vitor Manuel Melo Pereira: He had three matches involving Spanish teams out of 47 club games - of which two were Spanish derbies. The only non-Spain - Spain encounter was Lazio - Real in 2001. A final match is always to be considered differently because there is limited flexibility. As far as I remember, Pedro Proenca's appointment was also a lucky coincidence, as other candidates were no longer available due to the presence of their own national teams. But it is true that Pedro Proenca already officiated Spain - Repubic of Ireland in the group stage as his first assignment; a match I would not have predicted, as I assumed that UEFA also considers geographical factors as long as there is still some leeway.
DeleteI don't think it is geographical factor also don't forget artur soares have 15 matches approximately or above for spanish he was regulary officiating spanish team
DeleteSoares Dias is more than 20 years younger than Melo Pereira. In the meantime, the referees' commission has changed several times, along with its strategies: Collina and Rosetti are also significantly different. During Melo Pereira's time, appointments for Spain games (as long as it wasn't a derby) were highly unusual. Proenca then officiated "massive" numbers of Spain games, evenly distributed including home matches. Currently, the philosophy seems similar to Melo Pereira's era. His appointment for the 2001 Super Cup between FC Liverpool and Bayern München was easy to predict, because unlike the Champions League and UEFA Cup, no Spanish team was involved—thus a suitable opportunity for him. UEFA will not disclose, publicly or incognito (I assume there are enough members reading here), which philosophy they are currently following.
DeleteWhere is Peljto?
ReplyDeleteMaybe in Europa League tomorrow? But I think he would have got Champions League, we will see which game.
DeleteRangers - Roma possible
DeleteIs there who knows why spanish referee does officiate Portuguese club, also Portuguese referees does not officiate spanish since last season ??
ReplyDeletegood question..
ReplyDeleteUEFA appointed Vincic who is a friend of Fenerbahce's vice president Acun ılıcalı ,for the game between Benfica-Fenerbahce in CL playoff. They saw no problem there. And Gözübüyük with Turkish origin was appointed 3 weeks ago for the Azerbaijani team Qarabağ.
Correct I don't what is the new reason that it is forbidden Portuguese to officiate match for Spanish also spanish forbidden
DeleteDebuts for Jablonski, Gishamer and Godinho.
ReplyDeleteSecond game for Sozza now with a committee member.
Not much to say about the rest: regular assignments for Marciniak, Taylor (he meets again a Spanish team), Bastien, Kružliak and Sánchez Martínez (back from injury).
Marciniak is a bit surprising, because the observer was already appointed before his MD3 game IIRC. He and Siebert are the only two referees with CL on MD3 and 4.
DeleteBastien has missed the first three matchdays in all three competitions, so I didn't expect him straight back to CL.
Sanchez' injury apparently was short enough for an immediate return to CL.
I find Marciniak remarkable above all because he only officiated Dortmund on the second matchday. It is not new that UEFA sometimes assigns referees to the same team twice in the league phase. However, whether this has to happen as early as the fourth matchday with only a single other referee in between is another question. Perhaps Marciniak was a standby referee and there were reassignments, for example, due to the turmoil in Turkey.
DeleteBoth points combined it indeed looks a lot like a replacement. Maybe even for Peljto, if he doesn’t appear tomorrow for EL.
DeleteSozza with Mourinho and teams that can play dirty and be physical.
ReplyDeleteWith his lenient style,could be fun watch.
He criticized Sozza last year after the game beetween Fenerbahce-Lyon.
Deletehttps://youtu.be/XzTr5Tcs3_M?si=WVnSATJjgXqilZ49
Sozza has been pretty in form in Serie A, I hope he can continue, now seems to be one of the best serie A referees in recent form
DeleteI'm curious for Scottish and Albanian referee treatment or maybe for some other FA too. When we look names like Kabakov, Treimanis, Aghayev, even Kehlet. IINM we have already seen their names many times either in UEL, UECL, or WC qualifiers this year, but where is Walsh, Beaton, Xhaja, Jorgji. Is names like them inferior than names like Treimanis and Aghayev? Even Chefren mentioned he didn't know what's committee think for Aghayev, maybe just maybe we must have new category again after Elite Referee like 13 years ago (iinm Elite Development Group again). Either we like it or not, Treimanis, Kabakov, Aghayev it's like always get the match and their reputation was solid enough as Category 1 with quite young age, under 40. Jug, Obrenovic with their passport advantage and Croatian just started again with Pajac, but even for Pajac I didn't see his name many times like Treimanis and the others I had mentioned. What do you think? Thanks in advance.
ReplyDeletePerhaps they didn't pass the fitness or video tests?
DeleteBut Pajac got his debut and still he didn't lead many match as Treimanis, etc. Also I found out Balázs Berke from Hungary that promoted to Category 1 with very limited games iinm. What do you think?
DeleteI have to ask the same questions where on gods earth is Beaton and Wals?
DeleteMaybe if they changed their surnames to Beatoni and Walshi they may have more success in appointments ;)
DeleteWalshić*
DeleteTouché :)
DeleteThe situation regarding some of the names you mentioned is hard to understand. It seems, at least, that Jorgji had a recent match, if I remember correctly, while all about the other Albanian in focus remains very mysterious, like the two Georgians, and that's what is really strange: both of them, just like the Scots. I believe that tomorrow in the morning we should have a better understanding, because at least one of these names should be announced either in EL or ECL, if not all of them. Nevertheless, the management of this process remains hard to understand. Clearly, we can't know all the details, and the first thought that comes to mind is that perhaps all these referees who were not assigned might not have passed certain tests, or something might have gone wrong during the pre-season summer course. That's first argument, but in some cases, the treatment seems really harsh even if one thinks about that. Take Kabakov, for example, he was in good moment before starting this new season but now once again an "isolated" Category 1. It's a bit of a pity, because it looks like some names are immediately dropped in favor of others, without a consistent approach.
DeleteOne could also object to some of the debuts we have seen, both this round and in previous matchdays. Even when we are able to understand why they made debut and it was even expected, they only add new chapters without closing those of referees who were already on their trajectory for committee. It's a slightly complex concept to explain, but I think you understand. However, I can't know more than this, of course; ideally, one should ask the referees themselves, but that's not possible, so we just speculate. It’s certainly disappointing for those who were performing quite well but were suddenly stopped for some obscure reasons. Take also Alberola Rojas as example: given how promisingly he started the summer, he should have achieved a bit more by now. Honestly, I couldn't say. It's a difficult way to operate, especially considering the very big number of referees involved, but the situations are often very far from being clear. And, as last remark, for some names, indeed the Azeri Aghayev, but also others, the real consideration by committee is not clear, it seems they just get certain games as "wild card" when there are free slots and it is not possible to assign other names (it's evident to me that this kind of referees get assignments only in that circumstance).
But maybe, in the end, on this blog, we definitely want to know too much and that's just "not possible", should we give up? :)
Good appointment for Sozza, in a rather open game.
ReplyDeleteAlso expected great appointment for Marciniak, who gets a big game again.
And again this time, it's Sanchez Martinez, who is appointed as a spanish in a rather not easy game, and opens again the debate on who is number 1 in Spain. The battle seems to be between him and Manzano and for now, it's rather difficult to see who is better.
Schärer ?? still injury ?
ReplyDeleteScottish VAR official Mr Andrew Dallas is being used in what i would consider big matches for a scotsman! Whats going on with him and why aren’t Englishs VARS being used.
ReplyDeleteLet me be clear i am aware Atwells var but I’m meaning the situation two weeks ago when he was VAR for Oliver.
DeletePossibly two reasons, large English numbers tomorrow in the EL and ECL or UEFA rates Mr Dallas's VAR work highly along with his full time VAR work in Scotland.
DeleteThe Italian Referee Association website has published the following appointments for the UEFA Europa League (UEL) and UEFA Europa Conference League (UECL) games:
ReplyDelete6/11/2025 - UEFA Europe League
VfB Stuttgart (GER) - Feyenoord (NED)
AVAR: Di Bello
6/11/2025 - UEFA Europe League
FC Basel 1893 (SUI) - Fotbal Club FCSB (ROU)
VAR: Fabbri
6/11/2025 - UEFA Europe Conference League
BK Hacken (SWE) - Racing Club de Strasbourg Alsace (FRA)
Arbitro: Pairetto
Assistenti: Peretti - Bahri
IV ufficiale di gara: Ayroldi
VAR: Marini - AVAR: La Penna
6/11/2025 - UEFA Europe Conference League
Crystal Palace FC (ENG) - AZ Alkmaar (NED)
Arbitro: Chiffi
Assistenti: Colarossi - Moro
IV ufficiale di gara: Zufferli
VAR: Doveri - AVAR: Abisso
6/11/2025 - UEFA Europe Conference League
Lincoln Red Imps FC (GIB) - HNK Rijeka (CRO)
VAR: Aureliano - AVAR: Maresca
Might aswell just appoint non FIFA Italian referees at this point.
DeleteBenoit Bastien was appointed to the Ajax-Galatasaray match.Another elite referee.Considering Ajax's poor performance, a non elite referee could have officiated this match.However,we see that the committee mostly appoints elite referees to the Galatasaray's matches.What are your thoughts on this Chefren?
ReplyDeleteBastien is a referee with a similar style to Siebert, strict and very often "by book" without thinking too much. Turkish team will have to be very careful, differently from other referees, they could see more cards. Same applies for Ajax, of course.
DeleteIt was possible to see a Category 1 indeed, but Chelsea - Ajax in my opinion was a more sonorous game than this one in Istanbul, for this reason Zwayer was there.
In the case of Galatasaray - Ajax I think Rosetti sees a rather very open tie, and in addition to that, a possible challenging technical and disciplinary control of the game, so for this reason he decided to assign an Elite, even if one coming from the "low part" (according to my opinion of course) of the category. He is France's nr. 3.
OT:Watched little bit of Guida in Milan vs Roma and I gotta say there was some positives and some negatives in some tense moments.
ReplyDeleteHis disciplinary was good,punished everything he had to except maybe towards last minute he did not caution Bartesaghi for clear SPA.
Then we had some issues with Mancini who received YC way too late,after his 500th complaint towards Guida,and Saelemaekers,who basically was doing whatever he wanted to and he escaped caution.
Then we had additional time that was original 4 minutes,then he added 2 more minutes for Leao injury.
I don't know if that's trend in Italy or they dont know to count time,but 4 minutes was way too small amount of time.
We had injuries,penalty kick that was delayed,Milan players that were injured or pretending,yellow cards,confrontations and only 4 minutes?!?
Sorry but not enough time was added imo.
Good performance by Guida in Milan-Roma. Apart from some small issues in the final minutes, when the game also became more complex and there were provocations as well as time-wasting. Good disciplinary control throughout the 90 minutes, and the penalty awarded was correct, without any hesitation, in line with recent guidelines (no yellow card). Overall, he managed the match well but lost a bit in thevery last minutes. In my opinion, however, the overall performance remains as very positive, given the difficulty.
DeleteThat said, regarding added time, it's always same issue. The only Italian referee who made sure to extend games in a very accurate way, similar to Marciniak under FIFA's Collina directives, was Maresca. He is now injured for a long period, but apart from him, really nobody gives much importance to stoppage time, which is a serious issue. They always allow too little time and, above all, in most cases, they permit time-wasting without compensating. Additionally, and this is even worse to me, they whistle with those few seconds before, of course, it could seem trivial but gives the impression that, at that specific moment of added time, there is no technical precision like other moments of the game. I will never stop repeating it, but I don't know what more I can say. I always prefer Collina's approach because, in the end, football doesn't deserve such scenes. We will see now with the proposal by IFAB about this big issue.
That being said,I see now that Sacchi is handling Lazio vs Cagliari.
DeleteWhat was the reason for his absence?
Cause he had some time in Serie B,his 6 last matches were B.