Last set of referees' assignments for Champions League Matchday 6, to be played on Wednesday 10 December 2025.
10 December 2025
18:45 CET - Villarreal (Estadio de la Cerámica)
VILLARREAL FC (ESP) - FC KØBENHAVN (DEN)
Assistant Referee 1: Branislav Hancko SVK
Assistant Referee 2: Jan Pozor SVK
Fourth Official: Peter Kralović SVK
Video Assistant Referee: Aleandro Di Paolo ITA
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Marco Di Bello ITA
UEFA Referee Observer: Konrad Plautz AUT
UEFA Delegate: Eduard Kindle LIE
18:45 CET - Baku (Tofiq Bəhramov adına Respublika Stadionu)
QARABAĞ FK (AZE) - AFC AJAX (NED)
QARABAĞ FK (AZE) - AFC AJAX (NED)
Referee: Rade Obrenovič SVN
Assistant Referee 1: Jure Praprotnik SVN
Assistant Referee 2: Grega Kordež SVN
Fourth Official: Mateo Tozan SVN
Video Assistant Referee: Matej Jug SVN
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Alen Borošak SVN
Assistant Referee 1: Jure Praprotnik SVN
Assistant Referee 2: Grega Kordež SVN
Fourth Official: Mateo Tozan SVN
Video Assistant Referee: Matej Jug SVN
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Alen Borošak SVN
UEFA Referee Observer: Vlado Svilokos CRO
UEFA Delegate: Jens Futterknecht GER
21:00 CET - Dortmund (Signal Iduna Park)
BORUSSIA DORTMUND (GER) - FK BODØ/GLIMT (NOR)
Referee: Erik Lambrechts BELAssistant Referee 1: Jo de Weirdt BEL
Assistant Referee 2: Kevin Monteny BEL
Fourth Official: Nathan Verboomen BEL
Video Assistant Referee: Pol van Boekel NED
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Cătălin Sorin Popa ROU
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Cătălin Sorin Popa ROU
UEFA Referee Observer: Markus Nobs SUI
UEFA Delegate: Oleg Harlamov EST
21:00 CET - Leverkusen (BayArena)
BAYER 04 LEVERKUSEN (GER) - NEWCASTLE UNITED FC (ENG)
Referee: Serdar Gözübüyük NED
Assistant Referee 1: Erwin Zeinstra NED
Assistant Referee 2: Patrick Inia NED
Fourth Official: Jeroen Manschot NED
Video Assistant Referee: Rob Dieperink NED
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Bram Van Driessche BEL
UEFA Referee Observer: Kyros Vassaras GRE
Assistant Referee 2: Patrick Inia NED
Fourth Official: Jeroen Manschot NED
Video Assistant Referee: Rob Dieperink NED
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Bram Van Driessche BEL
UEFA Referee Observer: Kyros Vassaras GRE
UEFA Delegate: Balázs Makray HUN
21:00 CET - Lisbon (Estádio do Sport Lisboa e Benfica)
SL BENFICA (POR) - SSC NAPOLI (ITA)
Referee: Slavko Vinčić 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: Stuart Attwell ENG
UEFA Referee Observer: Alan Mario Sant MLT
UEFA Delegate: Róbert Agnarsson ISL
21:00 CET - Turin (Allianz Stadium)
JUVENTUS FC (ITA) - PAFOS FC (CYP)
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: Guillermo Cuadra Fernández ESP
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: César Soto Grado ESP
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: César Soto Grado ESP
UEFA Referee Observer: Neale Barry ENG
UEFA Delegate: Gilles Petitmangin FRA
21:00 CET - Bruges (Jan Breydelstadion)
CLUB BRUGGE KV (BEL) - ARSENAL FC (ENG)
Referee: Sven Jablonski GER
Assistant Referee 1: Eduard Beitinger GER
Assistant Referee 2: Lasse Koslowski GER
Fourth Official: Tobias Reichel GER
Video Assistant Referee: Sascha Stegemann GER
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Ivan Bebek CRO
UEFA Referee Observer: Michal Beneš CZE
UEFA Delegate: Adrian D. Casha MLT
21:00 CET - Bilbao (Estadio de San Mamés)
ATHLETIC CLUB (ESP) - PARIS SAINT GERMAIN C (FRA)
Referee: Daniel Siebert GER
Assistant Referee 1: Jan Seidel GER
Assistant Referee 2: Rafael Foltyn GER
Fourth Official: Daniel Schlager GER
Video Assistant Referee: Benjamin Brand GER
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Andrew Dallas SCO
UEFA Referee Observer: Barış Şimşek TUR
UEFA Delegate: Danilo Filacchione ITA
21:00 CET - Madrid (Estadio Santiago Bernabéu)
REAL MADRID CF (ESP) - MANCHESTER CITY FC (ENG)
Referee: Clément Turpin FRA
Assistant Referee 1: Nicolas Danos FRA
Assistant Referee 2: Benjamin Pagès FRA
Fourth Official: Stéphanie Frappart FRA
Video Assistant Referee: Jérôme Brisard FRA
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Sören Storks GER
UEFA Referee Observer: Lutz Michael Fröhlich GER
UEFA Delegate: Filip Popovski MKD
Two of the nine referees also handled MD5. As we predicted, Turpin is on the big one in Madrid — a logical appointment. Vinčić in Lisbon shows once again how much Rosetti ‘protects’ Italian clubs. Gözübüyük finally returns, while UEFA again leaves out Peljto, clearly signalling they weren’t happy with his performance in RMA–MAR. We’ll see if he comes back in January.
ReplyDeleteGil Manzano is expected in this round, same for Siebert and Kružliak. Jablonski gets trust again. Lambrechts, with another appointment, is looking like a realistic candidate for Elite.
Overall, the complete opposite compared to Tuesday’s appointments.
Yes but we were expecting some names like taylor and godinho and pljeto their appointment doesn't get match
DeleteKavanagh and Rumšas are another rising candidate for elite beside Jablonski and Lambrechts with three matches. Obrenović will be too as Slovenian
Delete3 out of 9 (Jablonski, Kruzliak, Vincic).
DeleteRemarkably missing on MD5&6 are Kovacs and Taylor.
yes, my mistake
DeleteGood to see anonymous prediction about. O or few Germans being appointed because 3 German delegates already appointed totally blown out the water. Zwayer. Jablonski and seibert all out. Some people really need to let go their conspiracy theories
ReplyDeleteIt’s not a conspiracy. Example: last season no Dutch referees were appointed for the Champions League knockout phase. UEFA compensated generously by assigning a bunch of Dutch delegates. The same pattern appeared on MD1 and MD3 this season. I believe your claim there’s no communication at all between those departments… Maybe not directly, but there are decisions being made from higher up. How else would you explain the Slovenian “party” of Vincic with a Slovenian delegation at the Nations League semi-final last season?
DeleteI’ll admit that this round does seem fairly random. And no offense, but the tone of your posts here does come across a bit know-it-all, though, and I also don’t quite believe that you’re the mother of a top referee :-)
Only because I can’t be anonymous ha ha. And reckon I know more than some definitely more than you.
DeleteMaybe you should also brag a little about your network. Otherwise we won’t believe you. And take a moment to reflect on why you feel the need to show it off. People who put themselves on a pedestal are usually the most deceitful :)
DeleteNo Meler Again. I wonder this is because of the Atalanta Brugge match?
ReplyDeleteWell, definitely many things to say here.
ReplyDeleteAt first, I'm relieved to read Turpin for the big match in Madrid, so no matter what happened in Slovenia's game and that's good thing.
Then, in my opinion the big point of this set is once again how much Italian teams like Napoli and Juventus (due to the current position in the standings) are overprotected. Vincic in Portugal and Gil Manzano in Italy. While for the Slovenian can be even a "normal" assignment, if you try to read it with different glasses (still, Portuguese - Italian clash), it's incredible what about Gil Manzano, once again used in a very particular way. Juventus at home against a Cypriot team would have never been something for a Spanish Elite, but here you have the situation of the club from Turin (indeed, very shaky and Rosetti knows that) and a rather good overall presentation by the Cypriot side. Nevertheless, for Gil Manzano and his experience, if we read the choice in a different way, is a more than sub standard assignment, and more generally we know how much trust he has lost. Definitely, he is used just for committe's need, they don't care about the possible technical development, or maybe trying to follow a path.
About the rest: Jablonski with a very quick rise, it can remind Siebert and his fast rise at UEFA, but hopefully for him, the young German wil have a less shaky progress, without being thrown away in some circumstances and used in a certain way. Nevertheless, Siebert himself, has finally reached stability (but after very long time and a very long story, as we know...).
Belgian Lambrechts following a good path, but his assignments aren't surely top games, my idea is that finally he is about to be promoted, but committee doesn't want to spoil him that much, knowing more about his level. Then, to follow maybe he will raise the bar.
For Kruzliak a normal game as we know his reputation by Rosetti and Obrenovic will have a regular assignment in Azerbaijan as well.
Gozubuyuk back after a certain time out in Leverkusen, rather normal game for him.
To add, about Peljto, honestly I'm not convinced all is about Real Madrid game, sorry, I didn't want to say that, but when you see that another Elite refere gets a more than serious OFR in every game and he continues in getting games? What is the criterion here? Surely there is more about the Bosnian, but we can't know.
DeleteI completely agree about Peljto. Based on what we know, this is incredibly unfair. A referee who, after last season, had a clear path toward the World Cup has now been left out for five matches — and for what reason? We probably won’t hear the real explanation directly, but I honestly don’t see what could have happened for him to end up in this situation.
DeleteEven if the incident in RMA–MAR was considered a clear mistake, and VAR didn’t call him — would other Elite referees (especially the Italian ones) be punished this heavily? He regularly officiates in the Bosnian league, which means he’s neither injured nor unfit. It just makes no sense to me.
A really disappointing situation for Peljto before the World Cup. A real shame.
The only explanation I can find, because there must be indeed one, is that when referees make mistakes but VAR intervenes and all is clear, obvious and solved, no problems, as there isn't any public discussion. While in Madrid and Peljto occasion, this was not the same, discussion aroused. But that would be terrible, according to what we can see, this must be the only argument, otherwise in terms of performance, you can't appoint again referees like Mariani and Zwayer, among others, following some very big mistakes. A candidate to Elite would be stopped immediately without appeal.
DeleteOf course all said if there aren't other particular reasons about the Bosnian, we can't know. But if he gets regular games in domestic league...
He’s officiating in the domestic league. I read that he handled the biggest derby in Bosnian football yesterday, which makes some things even harder to understand.
DeleteFor example, the VAR officials were Higler and Dingert — both considered among the best VAR referees. And they didn’t call him, clearly because they also felt it wasn’t a clear and obvious mistake. Rocchi was the observer.
A really strange situation, honestly.
Higler also hasn't been appointed in CL since that MD1 game.
DeleteYou are right. That definitely changes things. It’s now obvious that this mistake, and that penalty which gave Real the win, ended up costing both Peljto and Higler, who we shouldn’t forget was the main VAR official for last year’s Champions League final.
DeleteThere’s no doubt Turpin is fully qualified to officiate Real vs. City. His reputation is excellent. However, Rosetti should never have appointed him to such a high-profile clash so soon after Slovenia–Kosovo. In my view, the 2YC card in that match was a mistake — the “foul” was no more than careless, and therefore the French ended up influencing the course of the game in a group that was still very open. The power of a French passport? To me, Rosetti is sending the wrong message here, even if there were few alternatives available. But this policy is risky. What would have happened if Peljto had given that second yellow in Slovenia? Or Meler?
ReplyDeleteAnd once again: absolutely nothing against Turpin as a referee. He is one of the best in Europe, and I genuinely enjoy watching him. And I agree with Chefren that it’s at least positive that Ceferin isn’t taking centre stage in a negative way by punishing Turpin.
DeleteBut I do regret how inconsistently referees are treated. There is no clear rejection policy. Some referees are sidelined for the rest of a season after a single mistake - just look at how Meler, Nyberg, Peljto, Makkelie, or Hernandez Hernandez have been handled. Meanwhile, Obrenovic was allowed to officiate a knockout match last season after a poor performance in Monaco. Zwayer gets one of the top fixtures this round despite having a VAR overturn in every match so far.
And for Turpin, a mistaken decision seems to have no negative consequences at all. In fact, this almost feels like compensation for not being appointed in the previous round.
Or maybe it’s only regarded as a big mistake by you and not Rosetti and co? So there would not be any reason for “demotion” for Turpin.
DeleteIn other parts I clearly agree about treatment difference.
Glenn Nyberg in the game between Flamengo and Cruz Azul at the Intercontinental.
ReplyDeleteEskas appointed as 4 referee.
After my less than positive review for Kruzliak in MD5, I am interested to see how he performs. Hopefully with more enthusiasm than previous
ReplyDeleteJablonski seems to have impressed in all his UEFA matches; otherwise, he wouldn't have been given three consecutive Champions League games. He, Walsh, and Lambeers are, in my opinion, the favorites for promotion to the top tier
ReplyDeleteFirst Cat refs with three CL appearances this season so far (including MD6):
DeleteObrenovič, Lambrechts, Jablonski, Kavanagh & Rumsas
2 games: Aghayev, Sozza, Sylwestrzak, Schnyder, Walsh
One game: Godinho, Barbu, Gishamer, Pajač, de Burgos Bengoetxea, Martínez Munuera, Lukjancukas & Barbu
Lambrechts
DeleteI admire referee Mario escobar , calm referee, respect with players, does not like to give cards , I like referees of this kind
ReplyDeleteMario escobar is reverse of referees like letexier or kovacs
ReplyDeleteGuys, do you know why Orel Grinfeeld and Anastasios Sidiropoulos haven't refereed a single Champions League match?
ReplyDeleteThey are Category 1 referees in all but name.
DeleteSo why doesn't UEFA relegate them to the first category?
DeleteIs there any news about Kabakov? Previous years he was trusted for several matches, four in 2024-25. This season only 2 UEL matches.
ReplyDeleteWe also lost Saggi, Petrescu, and Balakin who had three matches each last year.
Europa League:
ReplyDelete- Young Boys v Lille: Sander van der Eijk
- Midtjylland v Genk: Vasilios Fotias
- Utrecht v Nottingham Forest: Irfan Peljto
- Ferencváros v Rangers: Anastasios Papapetrou
- Dinamo Zagreb v Real Betis: Goga Kikacheishvili
- Nice v Braga: Giorgi Kruashvili
- Ludogorets Razgrad v PAOK: Horațiu Feșnic
- Sturm Graz v Red Star Belgrade: Damian Sylwestrzak
- VfB Stuttgart v Maccabi Tel Aviv: Marian Barbu
- Celtic v Roma: István Kovács
- Porto v Malmö FF: Rohit Saggi
- Basel v Aston Villa: Halil Umut Meler
- FCSB v Feyenoord: Mykola Balakin
- Lyon v Go Ahead Eagles: Juxhin Xhaja
- Panathinaikos v Viktoria Plzeň: António Nobre
- Celta Vigo v Bologna: Radu Petrescu
- SC Freiburg v Red Bull Salzburg: Elchin Masiyev
- Brann v Fenerbahçe: Willy Delajod
Conference League
- Fiorentina v Dynamo Kyiv: Miloš Milanović
- BK Häcken v AEK Larnaca: Yigal Frid
- Breiðablik v Shamrock Rovers: Enea Jorgji
- Drita v AZ: Dalibor Černý
- Noah v Legia Warsaw: Bulat Sariyev
- Jagiellonia Białystok v Rayo Vallecano: Edgars Maļcevs
- Shkëndija v Slovan Bratislava: Ívar Orri Kristjánsson
- Samsunspor v AEK Athens: Jérémie Pignard
- Universitatea Craiova v Sparta Prague: Jasper Vergoote
- Aberdeen v Strasbourg: Robert Schröder
- Hamrun Spartans v Shakhtar Donetsk: Florian Badstübner
- Rijeka v Celje: Andrea Colombo
- Lech Poznań v Mainz 05: Andrei Chivulete
- KuPS v Lausanne-Sport: Oleksiy Derevinskyi
- Lincoln Red Imps v Sigma Olomouc: Bence Csonka
- Raków Częstochowa v Zrinjski Mostar: Ondřej Berka
- Shelbourne v Crystal Palace: Martin Matoša
- Rapid Wien v Omonia: Joey Kooij
Serdar Gözübüyük gets the most relevant observer in the entire batch (Vassaras), on top of already having a committee member earlier this season. Could there be a specific reason for that?
ReplyDeleteAt the start of the season, I expected Gözübüyük to take over the #1 spot in the Netherlands. Yet a few months later, Makkelie has officiated more UCL, including games involving Italian sides. So he’s certainly not out of the picture.
Perhaps a wild thought: could Gözübüyük be a candidate for, say, a Conference League final? Or it might simply be a short-term consideration (e.g. building up to an attractive fixture in MD7)?
I have an interesting question and I’m curious how this is evaluated. Suppose a referee decides not to award a penalty in a 50/50 situation (as in the Zwayer example), where both “penalty” and “no penalty” can be supported. The VAR still calls the referee to the monitor and the referee then follows the VAR’s advice.
ReplyDeleteWould this be considered a blameworthy error by the referee? In a way, that would be strange, because his original decision “no penalty” would also have been supported.
How is this assessed and how does it work from a mental perspective for the referee? I’m very interested to understand this better.
Where the referee has a clear unobstructed view of the incident and he changes his mind after on OFR he would be marked down assuming the observer believes it to be a penalty kick. If the observer feels the incident was not worthy of a penalty kick and not at OFR the var would also be marked down.
DeleteUEFA also want decisions made on field as opposed to in var. if as u say its 50/50 which suggests subjective then its unlikely (although not unknown) for var to become involved. It would depend on how the referee communicates what he saw
ReplyDeleteArab Cup QF appointments:
ReplyDeleteMARSYR: Garay (CHI)
PLEKSA: Omar (EGY)
JORIRQ: Eskås (NOR)
ALGUAE: Makhadmeh (JOR)