The referees in charge of 2025-26 UEFA Champions League KO Play-offs second legs. First set of games, 24 February 2026.
18:45 CET - Madrid (Estadio Metropolitano)
CLUB ATLÉTICO DE MADRID (ESP) - CLUB BRUGGE KV (BEL)
Referee: Clément Turpin FRA
Assistant Referee 1: Nicolas Danos FRA
Assistant Referee 2: Benjamin Pagès FRA
Fourth Official: Éric Wattellier FRA
Video Assistant Referee: Jérôme Brisard FRA
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Pol van Boekel NED
UEFA Referee Observer: Nuno Parreira De Castro POR
UEFA Delegate: David McDowell SVN
21:00 CET - Leverkusen (BayArena)
BAYER 04 LEVERKUSEN (GER) - OLYMBIAKÓS SFP (GRE)
Referee: Michael Oliver ENG
Assistant Referee 1: Stuart Burt ENG
Assistant Referee 2: James Mainwaring ENG
Fourth Official: Andrew Madley ENG
Fourth Official: Andrew Madley ENG
Video Assistant Referee: Marco Di Bello ITA
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Tomasz Kwiatkowski POL
UEFA Referee Observer: Itchko Lozev BUL
UEFA Delegate: Peter Lundström FIN
21:00 CET - Milan (Stadio Giuseppe Meazza)
FC INTERNAZIONALE MILANO (ITA) - FK BODØ/GLIMT (NOR)
Referee: Alejandro José Hernández Hernández ESP
Assistant Referee 1: José Enrique Naranjo Pérez ESP
Assistant Referee 2: Diego Sánchez Rojo ESP
Fourth Official: José Luis Munuera Montero ESP
Video Assistant Referee: Carlos del Cerro Grande ESP
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Guillermo Cuadra Fernández ESP
UEFA Referee Observer: Darko Čeferin SVN
UEFA Delegate: Thura Win ENG
21:00 CET - Newcastle (St James' Park)
NEWCASTLE UNITED FC (ENG) - QARABAĞ FK (AZE)
Referee: Davide Massa ITA
Assistant Referee 1: Filippo Meli ITA
Assistant Referee 2: Stefano Alassio ITA
Fourth Official: Luca Pairetto ITA
Video Assistant Referee: Daniele Chiffi ITA
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Christian Dingert GER
UEFA Referee Observer: João Ferreira POR
UEFA Delegate: Emmanuelle Puttaert BEL
Thoughts for Wednesday:
ReplyDelete- Remaining candidates are Vincic, Zwayer, Mariani, Taylor, Kovacs, Marciniak, Guida
- di Bello and Chiffi already appointed make the two Italians less likely
- In spite of Kwiatkowski, I don't expect Marciniak, because he hasn't done a game yet this year.
- Dingert could work with Vincic or Zwayer
- van Boekel could work with anyone, maybe Kovacs
- Cuadra could indicate Sanchez, but could also just be chosen as a Spanish AVAR for dCG
- Taylor only has one possible game (under normal assumptions): Real-Benfica
- For Atalanta-Dortmund, Sanchez or Vincic should be the only options
So overall, I think:
Atalanta-Dortmund: Sanchez (Cuadra)
Juventus-Galatasaray: Vincic (Dingert)
Real-Benfica: Taylor (Gillett)
PSG-Monaco: Kovacs (van Boekel)
Zwayer is the first alternative to mix things up.
I don't think Vincic will be appointed to the Juventus-Galatasaray match. because of his close ties to Fenerbahce ... vincic refereed the Galatasaray-Fenerbahce derby last year, and Galatasaray Club claimed that Vincic was close connected to Fenerbahce's vice president
DeleteJust some remarks, as discussed, Marciniak is injured so he is surely out, Mariani has a game tomorrow, Monday, so out from Wednesday CL as well. Few chances for Guida, who is about to officiate a serie A game today at 12:30 CET, but rather unlikely. Then, if we look at Oliver appointment with an Italian VAR, we could think all is possible, but on must mention as argument maybe less trust in English VARs?
DeleteAll in all, we can expect Sanchez in Bergamo and I would agree, very hard if not possible to expose Taylor in Madrid once again, after his career, but one can't rule this 100% out, Kovacs would meet again PSG and in case we could consider him among the narrow pool of officials who handle the French team. Vincic in Turin would be expected, here only other options would be Turpin (but he has another game), Letexier (already assigned in first legs) and Marciniak (injured). A different choice from the Slovenian, would be a big suprise, but it's even possible to think very easily, as you guessed, that he will be there working with the German VAR (after Dankert with Makkelie in first half). Now, thinking again to the switch of observers, I couldn't write the original names, but if I'm not wrong some of you stated that the observers from Juventus - Galatasaray and Newcastle - Qarabag have been switched. Well, given that there will be an Italian referee in Newcastle, it's impossible to think that he (Massa) was originally planned in Turin so we can draw conclusion that committee switches and changes observers between the games for some reasons, but only them and not the referees.
One more idea about the switch: Maybe Marciniak was the original idea for Juventus and as he didn't recover in time, the Newcastle referee was moved to there and Massa came in as replacement. In that case, this referee might be Zwayer?
DeleteMaybe things become clearer tomorrow.
Or maybe we are hallucinating and the change of observers happened independent from the referees...
Anyway I thought Massa deserved a better game after his group stage.
And if Vincic should be impossible for Galatasaray, Zwayer looks like the only alternative (because Kovacs and Sanchez had one of the teams in January) - Vincic could then go to Atalanta.
Very surprised to see Hernandez Hernandez in Milan.
ReplyDeleteGood appointment for Turpin.
My idea is that in this case committee kept the original decision, they didn't expect such a first leg score, but they didn't change the original appointment (differently from other circumstances). It's interesting once again to observe how different can be a 5-2 loss by Juventus in first leg than a 3-1 by Inter against a Norwegian side. The key factor for justifying Hernandez Hernandez (nothing against him personally of course, but we know how committee acts when they feel in danger of controversy) and reading this assignment is that even in case of elimination for Norwegian side, nothing extraordinary will happen, given the excellent campaign that the Nordic team has achieved so far. Honestly, this shouldn't be an argument because if they won 3-1 first leg, this means they are very good and rather strong team, or at least we can say they deserve to stay there, but it's undeniable that they are not a big name, so this can allow different reasoning by Rosetti & co.
DeleteNow, for committee, the potentially controversial point of this assignment is about the Italian team and if they will have something to complain in a context in which they feel they could do it. But it's a risk you can take, in the end. Inter on paper should be considered by far stronger than Norwegian side, if they don't win, just their fault (however, I think another Italian team would have received a different treatment).
DeleteIn the end, all Elite referees in the panel should in a way justify with facts that they belong to this category with merit and maybe, just saying that is enough without adding other arguments to discussion.
Well, he started late into the CL season, but then he had three good games, so not too unexpected to see him in KO stage. And then, as Chefren describes, Inter-Bodo might have been assessed as one of the "smaller" games of the round. A bit surprising though, that Hernandez and Siebert weren't appointed the other way round - not sure whether the Spanish actually is considered above the German at the moment or whether the match in Norway was thought to be more challenging.
Delete@Philipp: Your theory regarding Zwayer in Turin could very well be correct. But let’s be honest and straight to the point…
ReplyDeleteIf Zwayer does get appointed on Wednesday, then it’s clear he HAS to achieve something this season. Any other ref - think of Peljto - would easily have been moved to the Europa League after many OFRs and a hesitant body language. Did they (UEFA) promise something to dfb? It’s curious. Moreover, an initial appointment in Newcastle for Zwayer suggests he was meant to stay under the radar which is “normal” for final candidates…
Oliver with an Italian VAR is interesting. He’s a genuine final candidate, but I get the feeling Rosetti doesn’t fully trust the English VARs. Pairing Oliver with an Italian VAR could therefore be the bridge Oliver needs toward the final (provided there are no English teams involved). I also think Oliver is being kept very much under the radar in Leverkusen.