2026-27 UEFA Europa League Play-Off Round: first-leg referee appointments.
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| Igor Pajač: the Croatian referee currently under the committee's spotlight |
Thursday 20 August 2026
17:00 CET
Almaty (Almaty Central Stadium)
QAİRAT (KAZ) vs. ANDERLECHT (BEL)
Referee: Christopher Kavanagh ENG
Assistant Referee 1: Daniel Cook ENG
Assistant Referee 2: Ian Hussin ENG
Fourth Official: Robert Jones ENG
Video Assistant Referee: Stuart Attwell ENG
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Matthew Donohue ENG
UEFA Referee Observer: Alan Mario Sant MLT
UEFA Delegate: Alojzije Šupraha CRO
18:00 CET
Białystok (Chorten Arena)
JAGIELLONIA BIAŁYSTOK (POL) vs. IBERIA TBILISI (GEO)
Referee: Ricardo de Burgos Bengoetxea ESP
Assistant Referee 1: Iker de Francisco Grijalba ESP
Assistant Referee 2: Iván Massó Granado ESP
Fourth Official: Alejandro Quintero González ESP
Video Assistant Referee: Guillermo Cuadra Fernández ESP
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Javier Iglesias Villanueva ESP
UEFA Referee Observer: Uno Tutk EST
UEFA Delegate: Jaroslav Doležal CZE
18:00 CET
Sölvesborg (Strandvallen)
MJÄLLBY (SWE) vs. SALZBURG (AUT)
Referee: Mykola Balakin UKR
Assistant Referee 1: Oleksandr Berkut UKR
Assistant Referee 2: Viktor Matyash UKR
Fourth Official: Dmytro Panchyshyn UKR
Video Assistant Referee: Clay Ruperti NED
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Denys Shurman UKR
UEFA Referee Observer: Rune Pedersen NOR Emil Božinovski MKD
UEFA Delegate: Damien Mollard SUI
19:00 CET
Trabzon (Şenol Güneş Spor Kompleksi Papara Park)
TRABZONSPOR (TUR) vs. FERENCVÁROS (HUN)
Referee: Igor Pajač CRO
Assistant Referee 1: Bojan Zobenica CRO
Assistant Referee 2: Ivan Mihalj CRO
Fourth Official: Mateo Erceg CRO
Video Assistant Referee: Mario Zebec CRO
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Fran Jović CRO
UEFA Referee Observer: Martin Hansson SWE
UEFA Delegate: Hristo Zapryanov BUL
19:00 CET
Craiova (Stadionul Ion Oblemenco)
UNIVERSITATEA CRAIOVA (ROU) vs. ARARAT-ARMENIA (ARM)
Referee: Nicholas Walsh SCO
Assistant Referee 1: Francis Connor SCO
Assistant Referee 2: Daniel McFarlane SCO
Fourth Official: Donald Robertson SCO
Video Assistant Referee: Andrew Dallas SCO
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Steven McLean SCO
UEFA Referee Observer: Pascal Garibian FRA
UEFA Delegate: Richard Havrilla SVK
19:00 CET
Rrogozhinë (Arena Egnatia)
EGNATIA (ALB) vs. LILLESTRØM (NOR)
Referee: Willy Delajod FRA
Assistant Referee 1: Erwan Finjean FRA
Assistant Referee 2: Valentin Évrard FRA
Fourth Official: Jérémy Stinat FRA
Video Assistant Referee: Mathieu Vernice FRA
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Benoît Millot FRA
UEFA Referee Observer: Stefano Podeschi SMR
UEFA Delegate: Ádonis Prokopíou CYP
19:00 CET
Poznań (Enea Stadion)
LECH POZNAŃ (POL) vs. THUN (SUI)
Referee: Sebastian Gishamer AUT
Assistant Referee 1: Roland Riedel AUT
Assistant Referee 2: Santino Schreiner AUT
Fourth Official: Walter Altmann AUT
Video Assistant Referee: Alan Kijas AUT Christian-Petru Ciochirca AUT
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Josef Spurny AUT
UEFA Referee Observer: William Young SCO
UEFA Delegate: Roxana Berceanu ROU
19:00 CET
Istanbul (Tüpraş Stadyumu)
BEŞİKTAŞ (TUR) vs. KAUNO ŽALGIRIS (LTU)
Referee: Tobias Stieler GER
Assistant Referee 1: Lasse Koslowski GER
Assistant Referee 2: Jonas Weickenmeier GER
Fourth Official: Robin Braun GER
Video Assistant Referee: Sören Storks GER
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Benjamin Cortus GER
UEFA Referee Observer: Gylfi Þór Orrason ISL
UEFA Delegate: Aian Äljanov KAZ
20:00 CET
Sint-Truiden (Daio Wasabi Stayen Stadium)
SINT-TRUIDENSE (BEL) vs. OMÓNIA NICOSIA (CYP)
Referee: Georgi Kabakov BUL
Assistant Referee 1: Martin Margaritov BUL
Assistant Referee 2: Martin Venev BUL
Fourth Official: Dimitar Dimitrov BUL Radoslav Gidzhenov BUL
Video Assistant Referee: Dragomir Draganov BUL
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Nikola Popov BUL
UEFA Referee Observer: Drago Kos SVN
UEFA Delegate: Mark Bos NED
20:00 CET
Belgrade (Stadion Rajko Mitić)
CRVENA ZVEZDA (SRB) vs. VIKTORIA PLZEŇ (CZE)
Referee: Espen Andreas Eskås NOR
Assistant Referee 1: Jan Erik Engan NOR
Assistant Referee 2: Alf Olav Rossland NOR
Fourth Official: Sigurd Smehus Kringstad NOR
Video Assistant Referee: Bram Van Driessche BEL
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Bert Put BEL
UEFA Referee Observer: Luis Medina Cantalejo ESP
UEFA Delegate: Radenko Mijatovič SVN
20:00 CET
Heraklion (Pancretan Stadium)
OFI (GRE) vs. CSKA SOFIA (BUL)
Referee: Srđan Jovanović SRB
Assistant Referee 1: Uroš Stojković SRB
Assistant Referee 2: Miloš Simović SRB
Fourth Official: Novak Simović SRB
Video Assistant Referee: Momčilo Marković SRB
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Jelena Cvetković SRB
UEFA Referee Observer: Martin Atkinson ENG
UEFA Delegate: Paul Daniel Zaharia ROU
21:00 CET
Lisbon (Estádio do SL Benfica)
BENFICA (POR) vs. AARHUS (DEN)
Referee: Marco Guida ITA
Assistant Referee 1: Giorgio Peretti ITA
Assistant Referee 2: Giuseppe Perrotti ITA
Fourth Official: Fabio Maresca ITA
Video Assistant Referee: Michael Fabbri ITA
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Daniele Chiffi ITA
UEFA Referee Observer: Marián Ružbarský SVK
UEFA Delegate: Emmanuelle Puttaert BEL
Why isn't Ivan Bebek the VAR referee for the Trabzon - Ferencvaros match? :) I suppose Turkey is completely out of the question for him. Those who know, know: that famous Braga - Fenerbahçe quater-final match. Two unjust red cards given against Fenerbahçe, an unjust penalty, and an offside goal allowed. In an interview, he shared that he could never erase that match from his memory. Even after 10 years, it still holds a deeply bad place in the memory of Fenerbahçe fans.. It might be the worst match ever officiated by a referee in a UEFA competition.
ReplyDeleteTwo Croatian referees are assigned to the Europa League and the Conference League, and Peljto is in the Europa League, yet none of them have Bebek as their VAR. Since he is not assigned to any other match in the Europa League or Conference League either, he is likely designated for the Champions League across both matchweeks.
ReplyDeleteEskås with Belgian VAR. On the one hand, it's not possible to draw any conclusion, since he never worked with Norwegian VARs in UEFA important games. However, given that the two matches are so close together, it could be that this is a replacement for Lambrechts for some reason.
ReplyDeleteIf the Belgian is not appointed in the Champions League, we might assume that this was perhaps his original match.
We will see.
About Belgium, I'm also curious to see which one will be the next for D'Hondt, after the famous incident in the last game.
So far, we read the name of Visser in Conference League...
Seems a replacement to Lambrechts indeed.
DeleteI don't think they will assign D'Hondt to any matches this year after that famous incident... It was completely incomprehensible.
DeleteMissed that, can you tell me more?
DeleteHe gets all the big games in Belgium and is number 1 future project there.
@Scandinavian Referee
DeleteHe was grabbed from the shirt by a Górnik Zabrze player in their CL R2 1st leg game vs Fenerbahçe, and only gave a caution.
To add, the player made this action because he wanted to explain to referee how he had been fouled (not a "free" attack), but I don't know how much this can change the assesement by Rosetti.
DeleteWell,after such games, Pajac can easly get himself in position to be considered for promotion to elite at summer 2026/winter 2027, or earlier!
ReplyDeleteAnother one thing, interesting game for Srdjan Jovanovic. His battle for gainin the Euro 2028 spot starts!
ReplyDeleteref from iberian peninsula officiating a match against iberia is kinda funny to me
ReplyDeleteSALZBURG vs MJÄLLBY - 2nd match referee Irfan Peljto
ReplyDeleteYC upgraded to RC after OFR by Kavanagh in Kairat - Anderlecht for this challenge (OFR not available in the clip)
ReplyDeletehttps://streamain.com/en/H2csYBt44dl1J2k/watch
The Trabzonspor player stepped on his opponent's foot, but Igor pajac made completely the wrong call and gave the Ferencváros player a yellow card—such a massive mistake
ReplyDeleteThat should be an OFR with the new VAR protocol, right?
DeleteI'm not sure.. But If i’m not wrong that rule applies to second yellow cards, or for simulation..
DeleteActually Swiss_reffan is right, this would be the exact situation for which the expansion of the mistaken identity rule was implemented (at least if I understand HB2300’s description of the situation correctly).
DeleteIf player A commits an offense and the referee awards a YC to player B because he (mistakenly) thought player B committed that exact offense (eg a step on foot), VAR can intervene. And player A and player B can either be team mates or opponents.
So should VAR have stepped in in this situation? Because it was clearly a wrong evaluation.
DeleteLech Poznań vs. Thun
ReplyDelete31' - Off-the-ball impeding at Lech's fourth goal, VAR supported
https://streama.in/OWBnG0JJsls9KwN/watch
Referee surprised by the free kick's execution with that pass, instead of a ball in the box (the Austrian was clearly waiting for that). Then, I think he didn't see properly the incident. For me it's a clear foul, to be whistled, intention by attacker is evident, however I can understand why for VAR this one was rather hard to judge. Should have been solved live.
Deletevery very soft penalty call for Stieler ..
ReplyDelete“By”
Deletehttps://streamain.com/en/Tv8gWtlusQvD2Kg/watch
DeleteClear foul by attacker before the penalty. Ridiculous holding.
DeleteFC Twente - Qarabag
ReplyDelete12' FC Twente's Pjaca went down after an opponent's leg accidentally struck him in the groin, prompting a teammate to kick the ball out of play.
No medical treatment was required and Pjaca got back up within seconds, yet the referee ordered him off the pitch for one minute.
It is only logical that FC Twente should be angry, as one cannot understand the rules simply by reading them.
Easy first half for Eskas in Belgrade. Two correct YCs. Well done. Probably mistake from AR2 in one offside decision, but if Arnautović would score, VAR would react.
ReplyDeleteNow at the end very justified RC given by Pajac.
ReplyDeleteIt was a very difficult and tense match for Igor Pajac, and unfortunately, his performance was poor. He lost control of the game from the first minute
ReplyDeleteI might be biased but one of the worst referee performance i have seen for a while. Pajac didn't punish the tactical foul strategy of Ferencvaros... fouls 3-24 and I can easily mention 8-10 fouls weren't called. All Ferencvaros players fouled when they lose the ball... only 3 of them were booked. Red Card is correct...
ReplyDeleteI watched the highlights now and clear foul on Salah not given before the goal. I don't know why VAR didn't intervene. Because it was start of attacking stage.
DeleteAnd none of the Trabzon players were booked because of non stop diving when they were near or inside the penalty area.
DeleteIf you think it is simulation, it should be booked; however all of them happened due to minimal to medium contacts.
DeleteTrabzonspor - Ferencvaros red card
ReplyDeletehttps://streamin.link/v/dd54e395
It should have been a yellow card ‘
DeleteHe shouldered him on the face. Extremely clear red.
DeleteI wrote before Red Card is correct but after watching this it is yellow card.
DeleteAnybody observed Srdjan Jovanovic?
ReplyDeleteOnly highlights. 2 VAR interventions. One for PK handball. No-one on the pitch asked for penalty so I inderstand that he also could not see it. The replays shown by VAR didn't conince me its inside. The second OFR was doubtful for me as I couldn see a reason for RC. Overall not so bad game for Jovanovic, but the VAR was hiperactive today.
DeleteEskas very good in total but missed clear PK that he should see on the pitch. After OFR he gave penalty. All YCs were correct. There were no complaints at all! He was always respected, players helped him a lot.
ReplyDeleteClear PK?
DeleteOnly if Eskas has 4 eyes, because the only pair he has were focused on the ball and two players entering the penalty area on the left part of the PA.
How do you come here with such ridiculous comments?
Did Eskas give a penalty after an OFR again? Not surprised at all... I've written about this many times, but 7 out of the last 10 penalties he awarded came after a VAR review. His career average for this is 72%
Delete