2025-26 UEFA Europa League, referee appointments for the first legs of semifinals, to be played on 30 April 2026.
Thursday 30 April 2026
21:00 CET - Nottingham (City Ground)
NOTTINGHAM FOREST FC (ENG) - ASTON VILLA FC (ENG)
Assistant Referee 1: Bruno Jesus POR
Assistant Referee 2: Luciano Maia POR
Fourth Official: Espen Eskås NOR
Video Assistant Referee: Tiago Martins POR
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: André Narciso POR
Assistant Referee 2: Luciano Maia POR
Fourth Official: Espen Eskås NOR
Video Assistant Referee: Tiago Martins POR
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: André Narciso POR
UEFA Referee Observer: Matteo Simone Trefoloni ITA
UEFA Delegate: Alexander Miescher SUI
21:00 CET - Braga (Estádio Municipal de Braga)
SC BRAGA (POR) - SC FREIBURG (GER)
Referee: Anthony Taylor ENG
Assistant Referee 1: Gary Beswick ENG
Assistant Referee 2: Adam Nunn ENG
Fourth Official: Christopher Kavanagh ENG
Video Assistant Referee: Michael Salisbury ENG
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Stuart Attwell ENG
Assistant Referee 2: Adam Nunn ENG
Fourth Official: Christopher Kavanagh ENG
Video Assistant Referee: Michael Salisbury ENG
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Stuart Attwell ENG
UEFA Referee Observer: Dejan Filipović SRB
UEFA Delegate: Kris Bellon BEL
Pinheiro and Taylor the referees for the first hand
ReplyDeleteUEFA Protecting Taylor for a potential UCL final ?
ReplyDeleteYou mean "protecting Oliver", right?
DeleteTaylor for the final that's interesting and why not, he has been brilliant this campaign even though reality gives him 20% of getting a final this season
DeleteTaylor's last CL KO game was two years ago!
DeleteIf he was anywhere near the final, there would be no consistency in UEFA's appointments (to put it mildly).
@philipp S obviously you can see that it’s maybe more protecting Oliver which I agree with but I can see them giving him this before a final, that’s probably not happening but I was just questioning about it as now UEFA is giving SF and final to a same ref.
DeleteTaylor had Freiburg just 12 days ago on the previous round.
ReplyDeleteIt would make more sense send another referee here.
Yes, that seems very unneccesary.
DeleteTaylor could have gotten the Vallecano game and there are plenty of alternatives for Braga-Freiburg.
and assistant Gary Beswick
Deleteand aVAR Stuart Attwell
surely a weird oversee
21:00 CET - Nottingham (City Ground)
ReplyDeleteNOTTINGHAM FOREST FC (ENG) - ASTON VILLA FC (ENG)
Referee: João Pinheiro POR
Assistant Referee 1: Bruno Jesus POR
Assistant Referee 2: Luciano Maia POR
Fourth Official: Espen Eskås NOR
Video Assistant Referee: Tiago Martins POR
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: André Narciso POR
UEFA Referee Observer: Matteo Simone Trefoloni ITA
UEFA Delegate: Alexander Miescher SUI
21:00 CET - Braga (Estádio Municipal de Braga)
SC BRAGA (POR) - SC FREIBURG (GER)
Referee: Anthony Taylor ENG
Assistant Referee 1: Gary Beswick ENG
Assistant Referee 2: Adam Nunn ENG
Fourth Official: Chris Kavanagh ENG
Video Assistant Referee: Michael Salisbury ENG
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Stuart Attwell ENG
UEFA Referee Observer: Dejan Filipović SRB
UEFA Delegate: Kris Bellon BEL
These appointments also eliminate Oliver in the UEL entirely this year unless a miracle happens and he gets the second leg of the premier league derby in Birmingham
ReplyDeleteBy the way, regarding Oliver he will also not get a UCL semi final second leg because he is to officiate a premier league game on Monday (Everton v Man City).
DeleteIt is now turning into a bad year for Oliver ( unlucky) everything going in the opposite direction for the English perhaps FIFA can save him
I wonder, whether a Conference League final (if possible) would be considered a success by him or not.
DeleteConference League match for Zwayer. Are they shielding him for a Champions League final between PSG and Arsenal?
ReplyDeleteNo chance, I think even Siebert is in a better position than him after this season
DeleteSiebert situation is really weird since the last World Cup don’t sure that he is over zwayer
DeleteIt isn't no chance...
Deletehttps://www.dailymail.com/sport/football/article-15770311/UEFA-investigating-referee-sexual-assault-teenage-boy-officiating-match-UK.html
ReplyDeleteWow that’s a big scandal and horrific case.
DeleteWow ? A world cup referee ? Shocking ! A name ?
Deleteif its a referee its narrowed down to 2 names but we cant be sure its not an AR or VAR.
DeleteAgree only 2 names if it’s happened during the quarter finals but it can also be 4th official or AR, for VAR I don’t know if they are in truck or in VOR like in UCL games.
Deletewont be 4th official from past games as they wouldnt be going to world cup. are vars at stadiums for knockouts? ive seen pics of a couple full teams at stadiums but not sure is that the norm.
DeleteWho said it happened during quarter finals? Don’t start some random name dropping cause the Sun is not a reliable source , and it can damage referees. For what its worth many VARs have been at the stadium. Tbh i cant see a CL referee doing this , they are too famous. A drink on the terrace is already problematic
DeleteAgree. I hope it’s a real hoak.
DeleteUefa said: “Please be informed that we are aware of an ongoing police investigation involving a match official. We are monitoring the situation with great concern and will continue to follow developments closely. In the meantime, the official will not be considered for any Uefa competition matches.
DeleteApparently he is selected for the World Cup, don’t know for which role.
I think it's a hoax. Too many missing details in this story. It isn't indicated when this supposedly happened. People start speculating and make assumptions about the timeline , but why is this only being published on Monday 27 April ? And precisely at 9:00 PM, The Sun. I don't buy it. If a UEFA official had been arrested with a lot of fanfare , surely we should have read about this earlier
DeleteMore news here, statements from Police and UEFA :
Deletehttps://apnews.com/article/match-official-arrest-world-cup-fifa-uefa-680b3d7bafddefdc655ec363c03c1bf3
So, UEFA is preserving Michael Oliver for the UCL final if Arsenal do not make it? Which creates the risk that he ends up with nothing; no semi final and no final.
ReplyDeleteTo me it is not surprising he is a candidate because he arguably deserved the final last season instead of Kovacs. But on the other hand, it is somewhat surprising since it means Oliver has to officiate Atletico’s hot potatoes in the final, while his style can be too “permissive” for teams like Atleti (see also his performance as 4O in a hot UEL final) - but no one can deny that the Englishman has been very strong for two seasons in a row and deserves a final for sure.
The ruling, clearly, is that there is no point giving a semifinal 'unsonorous' (said with full respect for both teams of course!) as Braga-Freiburg to one of the big CL final candidates. I would agree with that. Remember that Makkelie's appointment to Atletico-Arsenal is one surely orientated in necessity, rather than a completely free choice. The other possible game for Taylor, Rayo-Strasbourg, seemed better to me than repeating Freiburg, but okay. Martins should have been rejected after the missed red card in Alsace (his assessment must have been that this action was 'a very reckless tactical foul' and not 'violent'; I disagree) but otherwise the choice of Pinheiro is a good one. Eskas won't referee a semifinal, it seems; this could be read in one of two ways.
ReplyDeleteTalking about VAR appointments: Michael Salisbury is working on Taylor's game, he of West Ham vs. Everton controversy. Salisbury was one of VARs at the Limassol course and had that incident occurred in UEFA comps, I hope he would have intervened! Kwiatkowski for Rumsas (in the last round, the Lithuanian had Dieperink) suggests that Marciniak won't referee in the semifinals?
DeleteI agree on Eskas. His situation in UEFA really is hard to read. If he is considered for the ECL final, he should have gotten at least a EL QF, better a EL (or CL) SF in my opinion. Now, his appointments in the KO stage are rather thin. But it still could happen.
DeleteKwiatkowski could be an indicator - on the other hand, Marciniak regularly worked with other VARs in this season.
I would have expected Gillett with Taylor, especially as Oliver can't appear in the SFs.
Undeserved for Pinheiro, after the missed red card.
ReplyDeletePortuguese VAR has been appointed again, despite of that.
Argument? Situation was fully irrelevant for the final score of previous game, the mistake was in favor of the team that was eliminated, so no issues...
It's clear that committee had big plans for Pinheiro, if they are managing such assignments despite Juventus - Galatasaray and the other previous game, try to guess if he had had a clear path... even a CL semifinal would have been possible.
While for Taylor situation seems to be always the same, they have just to appoint him in mostly Europa and Conference League games but without any interest. Just surviving for officiating at WC, nothing else. The fact that he got again same team tells us committee doesn't / can't appoint him in a different way, given the past.
Fully agree; totally undeserved appointment, especially if compared with other elite referees; this is nothing new. Pinheiro is a lucky guy or protected by the divinities. Each referee during his match is judged by the observer and, like everywhere (school, job, etc), the judgment is a little bit personal. So if appointments are (ALSO) based on the grade given by the observer, an half grade could count very much
Deletehttps://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2026/04/28/uefa-referee-arrested-suspicion-sexually-assaulting-boy/
ReplyDelete