2026/27 UEFA Champions League, League Phase, Matchday 1. Second set of referee appointments, Wednesday 9 September 2026.
9 September 2026
18:45 CET - Barcelona (Camp Nou)
FC BARCELONA (ESP) - FEYENOORD (NED)
Referee: Sven Jablonski GERAssistant Referee 1: Eduard Beitinger GER
Assistant Referee 2: Eric Müller GER
Fourth Official: Tobias Reichel GER
Video Assistant Referee: Bastian Dankert GER
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Andrew Dallas SCO
UEFA Referee Observer: Gianluca Rocchi ITA
UEFA Delegate: Alojzije Šupraha CRO
18:45 CET - Stuttgart (MHPArena)
VFB STUTTGART (GER) - VIKING FK (NOR)
Referee: Nenad Minaković SRBAssistant Referee 1: Nikola Borović SRB
Assistant Referee 2: Boško Božović SRB
Fourth Official: Danilo Nikolić SRB
Video Assistant Referee: Ivan Bebek CROAssistant Video Assistant Referee: Momčilo Marković SRB
UEFA Referee Observer: Alberto Undiano Mallenco ESP
UEFA Delegate: Neil Morrow NIR
21:00 CET - Paris (Parc des Princes)
PARIS SAINT GERMAIN (FRA) - ŠK SLOVAN BRATISLAVA (SVK)
Referee: Mykola Balakin UKRAssistant Referee 1: Oleksandr Berkut UKR
Assistant Referee 2: Viktor Matyash UKR
Fourth Official: Dmytro Panchyshyn UKR
Video Assistant Referee: Michael Salisbury ENG
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Matej Jug SVN
UEFA Referee Observer: Lutz Michael Fröhlich GER
UEFA Delegate: Mark Blackbourne ENG
21:00 CET - Liverpool (Anfield)
LIVERPOOL FC (ENG) - CLUB ATLÉTICO DE MADRID (ESP)
Referee: Davide Massa ITAAssistant Referee 1: Filippo Meli ITA
Assistant Referee 2: Alessio Berti ITA
Fourth Official: Matteo Marcenaro ITA
Video Assistant Referee: Marco Di Bello ITA
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Daniele Chiffi ITA
UEFA Referee Observer: Stefan Meßner AUT
UEFA Delegate: Thomas Grimm SUI
21:00 CET - Lisbon (Estádio José Alvalade)
SPORTING CP (POR) - GALATASARAY (TUR)
Referee: Espen Eskås NORAssistant Referee 1: Jan Erik Engan NOR
Assistant Referee 2: Alf Olav Rossland NOR
Fourth Official: Sigurd Kringstad NOR
Video Assistant Referee: Christian Dingert GER
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Bram Van Driessche BEL
UEFA Referee Observer: Dejan Filipović SRB
UEFA Delegate: Mark Evans WAL
21:00 CET - Naples (Stadio Diego Armando Maradona)
SSC NAPOLI (ITA) - ARSENAL FC (ENG)
Referee: Glenn Nyberg SWEAssistant Referee 1: Mahbod Beigi SWE
Assistant Referee 2: Andreas Söderkvist SWE
Fourth Official: Adam Ladebäck SWE
Video Assistant Referee: Carlos Del Cerro Grande ESP
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Jérôme Brisard FRA
UEFA Referee Observer: Nuno Parreira De Castro POR
UEFA Delegate: Haris Gvozden BIH
Nenad Minaković? I heard his name for the first time... there are big surprises appointments.
ReplyDeleteIf you never heard Minakovic, you should study more in order to write on this blog :)
Delete😀😀 I generally follow the referees who officiate Champions League matches..it's going to be a debut for him. :)
DeleteYou are hearing Nenad Minakovic for the first time? Did you start following this blog today?
DeleteHe is only 36 years old. He has a total of just 8 matches in UEFA competitions. I don't follow the Serbian league
DeleteBarcelona - Feyenoord: Jablonski (GER)
ReplyDeleteStuttgart - Viking: Minakovic (SRB)
PSG - Slovan Bratislava: Balakin (UKR)
Liverpool - Atlético: Massa (ITA)
Sporting CP - Galatasaray: Eskas (NOR)
Napoli - Arsenal: Nyberg (SWE)
CL GS debut for the Serbian referee.
Congrats to Minakovic. After good officiating at eternal derby, ready for next step. Hope he will be top. Under eye for possible elite promotion in January!
ReplyDeleteGood? He had bad performance. VAR correction for penalty, not giving clears YCs to both sides. From what we know from him he didnt had good game.
DeleteMy predictions for the upcoming referee appointments.
ReplyDeleteFenerbahce - Roma
Letexier/Turpin
Psv - Shaktar donetsk
Halil umut meler
Bayern - bodo Glimt
Chris kavanagh/Walsh
Slavia prague - Lens
Felix zwayer
Como 1907 - Leipzig
Gözübüyük
Manchester united - Sabah
Pinheiro..
Eredivisie round 5
ReplyDeleteSC Telstar - SC Cambuur
Referee: Joey Kooij / VAR: Martijn Vos
A lot happened in the Eredivisie last weekend. I saw that Van der Eijk’s first 'topper' (big match) had already been talked about on this blog. I was happy to see how much he’s grown, too.
And then there’s Joey Kooij.
1. The RC decision for Thórisson (Telstar) just past the 20-minute mark is unbelievable. He extended his leg for the tackle, but it wasn't a challenge made with his full body weight and momentum. It's true that the contact was a little high and hit the opponent's knee. But it was really just a slight contact—it barely grazed him. And as always, Vos fails to make a positive impression on me in his role as VAR. This RC should be canceled (without suspension) in a few hours.
https://youtu.be/sOMrkoe1bXs?t=84
2. Here is another scene: the procedure for overturning a penalty.
During a corner kick, Kooij penalized a Cambuur player for holding and awarded a penalty to Telstar. However, Vos intervened. After review, Kooij determined that the holding offense had finished before play restarted; he therefore canceled the penalty and ordered a retake of the corner kick.
https://youtu.be/sOMrkoe1bXs?t=438
In our daily practice, it is standard procedure that the referee does not review a position of holding as it is factual decision. So why on earth should the referee need to review for themselves when the holding ended? I simply cannot understand it. Have you ever seen procedures like this in other countries?
3. Handball on the line?
The VAR was able to convince themselves that it was on the line, that is, inside the penalty area. I'm curious whether this is clear and obvious. The camera captures the 16-meter line straight on from the side; the left edge of the ball appears to be overlapping the line, implying that the point of contact was likely on the line as well. It's almost the same situation as whether the ball has crossed the goal line or not. Therefore, intervention is likely correct. I would prefer a bit more clarity when judging based on the raw footage, though.
https://youtu.be/sOMrkoe1bXs?t=488
Incidentally, this was a historic match in which the first ever event in Eredivisie occurred. If you don't know the result, you should definitely check it out!
Whew, for me the SFP RC is an excellent decision.
Deleteat this point, the italian hierarchy for UEFA keeps getting very confusing .. who is n°1/n°2/n°3/n°4 ... Wasn't expecting Sozza at all , and didn't give a big probability to Massa ...
ReplyDeleteThese are still the early matches of the season, after all.
DeleteHowever, I think that Mariani should probably be seen as the current number one after having attended WC, even if on paper the representative for Italian active referees is Guida (given his longer experience on the lists, compared to Mariani).
Guida, however, is now on decline, mainly because he no longer guarantees physical reliability, and I think he might retire either at the end of this season or perhaps after the next one.
Then there's Massa who, as we know, has never been considered for major tournaments.
Next is Sozza, who was in complete difficulty until the end of last season, though "masked' by Rocchi", who kept assigning him despite his poor performances.
UEFA didn't do the same, but now, with the new season underway and this start with Dortmund -. Villarreal, something new might happen. More than anything, I just hope he starts refereeing well, the rest can follow.
I would have expected Colombo to be fast-tracked and trying to go ahead of Sozza, but we will see.
The referee from Como will certainly get a strong push, and it remains to be seen what he can reach.
As possible assignments for the finals, I think Guida is a name for closing his career with maybe Europa League, while the same target for me for Mariani, who is nevertheless still far away from the CL final standard, despite of a WC in which he got an excellent Brazil - Japan as last game.
While for me, Massa could get Conference League final.
Then, everything can change of course.
Chefren.
DeleteHow did Mariani officiate the Juventus - Milan match yesterday? After that extremely poor Lyon-Fener match, I don't think he'll get any European matches for a long time