2026-27 UEFA Europa League, Matchday 2, games to be played on Thursday 15 October 2026.
Thursday 15 October 2026
18:45 CET - Leiria (Estádio Municipal de Leiria - Dr. Magalhães Pessoa)
SCU TORREENSE (POR) - SUNDERLAND AFC (ENG)
Referee: Enea Jorgji ALBAssistant Referee 1: Denis Rexha ALB
Assistant Referee 2: Ridiger Çokaj ALB
Fourth Official: Juxhin Xhaja ALB
Video Assistant Referee: Daniele Doveri ITA
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Albert Doda ALB
UEFA Referee Observer: Kenneth William Clark SCO
UEFA Delegate: Thibault De Gendt BEL
18:45 CET - Décines-Charpieu (OL Stadium)
OLYMPIQUE LYONNAIS (FRA) - CRYSTAL PALACE FC (ENG)
Referee: João Pinheiro PORAssistant Referee 1: Luciano Maia POR
Assistant Referee 2: Hugo Marques POR
Fourth Official: David Rafael Oliveira Da Silva POR
Video Assistant Referee: Tiago Bruno Lopes Martins POR
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: César Soto Grado ESP
UEFA Referee Observer: Yevhenii Aranovskiy UKR
UEFA Delegate: Eugène Westerink NED18:45 CET - Alkmaar (AZ Stadion)
AZ ALKMAAR (NED) - HAPOEL BEER SHEVA (ISR)
Referee: Radoslav Gidzhenov BULAssistant Referee 1: Miroslav Maksimov BUL
Assistant Referee 2: Petar Mitrev BUL
Fourth Official: Nikola Popov BUL
Video Assistant Referee: Lukas Fähndrich SUI
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Tomasz Kwiatkowski POL
UEFA Referee Observer: Knut Kircher GER
UEFA Delegate: István Huszár HUN
18:45 CET - Leuven (Den Dreef)
ROYALE UNION SAINT GILLOISE (BEL) - REAL SOCIEDAD DE FÚTBOL (ESP)
Referee: Goga Kikacheishvili GEOAssistant Referee 1: Davit Akhvlediani GEO
Assistant Referee 2: Davit Gabisonia GEO
Fourth Official: Bakari Bregadze GEO
Video Assistant Referee: Darren England ENG
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Aleko Aptsiauri GEO
UEFA Referee Observer: Daniele Orsato ITA
UEFA Delegate: Neil Morrow NIR
18:45 CET - Salzburg (RB Arena)
RB SALZBURG (AUT) - AC MILAN (ITA)
Referee: Horațiu Feșnic ROUAssistant Referee 1: Alexandru Cerei ROU
Assistant Referee 2: Alexandru Corb ROU
Fourth Official: Florin Andrei ROU
Video Assistant Referee: Cătălin Popa ROU
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Carlos Del Cerro Grande ESP
UEFA Referee Observer: Fredy Fautrel FRA
UEFA Delegate: Anna Kapasoglou GRE18:45 CET - Prague (Stadion Letná)
AC SPARTA PRAHA (CZE) - LILLESTRØM SK (NOR)
Referee: Martin Matoša SVNAssistant Referee 1: Matej Žunič SVN
Assistant Referee 2: Aleksandar Kasapovič SVN
Fourth Official: Mateo Tozan SVN
Video Assistant Referee: Asmir Sagrković SVN
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Alen Borošak SVN
UEFA Referee Observer: Michael Koukoulakis GRE
UEFA Delegate: Philippe Prudhon FRA
18:45 CET - Poznań (Stadion Poznań)
KKS LECH POZNAŃ (POL) - BAYER 04 LEVERKUSEN (GER)
Referee: Miloš Milanović SRBAssistant Referee 1: Milan Pašajlić SRB
Assistant Referee 2: Svetozar Živin SRB
Fourth Official: Novak Simović SRB
Video Assistant Referee: Momčilo Marković SRB
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Pavle Tomić SRB
UEFA Referee Observer: Cyril Zimmermann SUI
UEFA Delegate: Andrey Medintsev BUL
18:45 CET - Celje (Stadion Celje)
NK CELJE (SVN) - OMONIA NICOSIA (CYP)
Referee: Elchin Masiyev AZE
Assistant Referee 1: Elshad Abdullayev AZE
Assistant Referee 2: Parvin Talibov AZE
Fourth Official: Farid Hajiyev AZE
Video Assistant Referee: Luca Pairetto ITA
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Nicat Ismayilli AZE
Assistant Referee 1: Elshad Abdullayev AZE
Assistant Referee 2: Parvin Talibov AZE
Fourth Official: Farid Hajiyev AZE
Video Assistant Referee: Luca Pairetto ITA
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Nicat Ismayilli AZE
UEFA Referee Observer: Nenad Đokić SRB
UEFA Delegate: Peter Elsworth ENG21:00 CET - Lisbon (Estádio do Sport Lisboa e Benfica)
SL BENFICA (POR) - CELTIC FC (SCO)
Referee: Nikola Dabanović MNE
Assistant Referee 1: Srđan Jovanović MNE
Assistant Referee 2: Vladan Todorović MNE
Fourth Official: Miloš Savović MNE
Video Assistant Referee: Pol van Boekel NED
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Fedayi San SUI
UEFA Referee Observer: Robert Schörgenhofer AUT
Assistant Referee 1: Srđan Jovanović MNE
Assistant Referee 2: Vladan Todorović MNE
Fourth Official: Miloš Savović MNE
Video Assistant Referee: Pol van Boekel NED
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Fedayi San SUI
UEFA Referee Observer: Robert Schörgenhofer AUT
UEFA Delegate: Claude Runavot FRA
21:00 CET - Marseille (Vélodrome)
OLYMPIQUE DE MARSEILLE (FRA) - OLYMPIACOS FC (GRE)
Referee: Michael Oliver ENG
Assistant Referee 1: Stuart Burt ENGAssistant Referee 2: James Mainwaring ENG
Fourth Official: Andrew Madley ENG
Video Assistant Referee: Andrew Dallas SCO
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Dennis Johan Higler NED
UEFA Referee Observer: Martin Hansson SWE
UEFA Delegate: Duncan Fraser SCO
21:00 CET - Budapest (Groupama Aréna)
FERENCVÁROSI TC (HUN) - FC VIKTORIA PLZEŇ (CZE)
Referee: Damian Sylwestrzak POLAssistant Referee 1: Paweł Sokolnicki POL
Assistant Referee 2: Adam Karasewicz POL
Fourth Official: Marcin Kochanek POL
Video Assistant Referee: Piotr Lasyk POL
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Pawel Pskit POL
UEFA Referee Observer: Shmuel Shteif ISR
UEFA Delegate: Paul Daniel Zaharia ROU
21:00 CET - Zagreb (Maksimir)
GNK DINAMO (CRO) - RSC ANDERLECHT (BEL)
Referee: Orel Grinfeeld ISRAssistant Referee 1: Roy Hassan ISR
Assistant Referee 2: Idan Yarkoni ISR
Fourth Official: Snir Levy ISR
Video Assistant Referee: Daniel Bar Natan ISR
Fourth Official: Snir Levy ISR
Video Assistant Referee: Daniel Bar Natan ISR
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Eli Hacmon ISR
UEFA Referee Observer: Christos Nicolaides CYP
UEFA Delegate: Hristo Zapryanov BUL
21:00 CET - Rennes (Roazhon Park)
STADE RENNAIS FC (FRA) - OFI CRETE (GRE)
Referee: Andrea Colombo ITA
Assistant Referee 1: Filippo Meli ITAAssistant Referee 2: Valerio Colarossi ITA
Fourth Official: Simone Sozza ITA
Video Assistant Referee: Marco Di Bello ITA
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Kristoffer Hagenes NOR
UEFA Referee Observer: Lassin Isaksen FRO
UEFA Delegate: Rodney Pisani MLT
21:00 CET - Bournemouth (Vitality Stadium)
AFC BOURNEMOUTH (ENG) - SK STURM GRAZ (AUT)
Referee: Jérôme Brisard FRAAssistant Referee 1: Alexis Auger FRA
Assistant Referee 2: Aurélien Berthomieu FRA
Fourth Official: Eric Wattellier FRA
Video Assistant Referee: Willy Delajod FRA
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Mathieu Vernice FRA
UEFA Referee Observer: Bernardino González Vázquez ESP
Assistant Referee 2: Aurélien Berthomieu FRA
Fourth Official: Eric Wattellier FRA
Video Assistant Referee: Willy Delajod FRA
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Mathieu Vernice FRA
UEFA Referee Observer: Bernardino González Vázquez ESP
UEFA Delegate: Emil Ubias CZE
21:00 CET - Białystok (Stadion Miejski)
JAGIELLONIA BIAŁYSTOK (POL) - ARARAT ARMENIA (ARM)
Referee: Anastasios Papapetrou GREAssistant Referee 1: Tryfon Petropoulos GRE
Assistant Referee 2: Andreas Fotopoulos GRE
Fourth Official: Fotios Polychronis GRE
Video Assistant Referee: Angelos Evangelou GRE
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Ioannis Papadopoulos GRE
UEFA Referee Observer: Vladimir Antonov MDA
UEFA Delegate: Donaldas Urniezius LTU
21:00 CET - Vigo (Estadio Balaidos)
REAL CLUB CELTA DE VIGO (ESP) - JUVENTUS (ITA)
Referee: Sander van der Eijk NED
Assistant Referee 1: Rens Bluemink NED
Assistant Referee 2: Stefan De Groot NED
Fourth Official: Allard Lindhout NED
Video Assistant Referee: Michael Salisbury ENG
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Richard Martens NED
UEFA Referee Observer: Emil Bozinovski MKDAssistant Referee 1: Rens Bluemink NED
Assistant Referee 2: Stefan De Groot NED
Fourth Official: Allard Lindhout NED
Video Assistant Referee: Michael Salisbury ENG
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Richard Martens NED
UEFA Delegate: Kurt Zuppinger SUI
21:00 CET - Sinsheim (Rhein-Neckar-Arena)
TSG HOFFENHEIM (GER) - BEŞIKTAŞ (TUR)
Referee: Lawrence Visser BELAssistant Referee 1: Ruben Wyns BEL
Assistant Referee 2: Michele Seeldraeyers BEL
Fourth Official: Kevin Van Damme BEL
Video Assistant Referee: Bram Van Driessche BEL
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Stuart Attwell ENG
UEFA Referee Observer: Gylfi Þór Orrason ISL
UEFA Delegate: Mark Blackbourne ENG
21:00 CET - Nijmegen (Goffertstadion)
NEC (NED) - PFC LEVSKI SOFIA (BUL)
Referee: Aliyar Aghayev AZE
Assistant Referee 1: Zeynal Zeynalov AZE
Assistant Referee 2: Akif Amirali AZE
Fourth Official: Ingilab Mammadov AZE
Assistant Referee 1: Zeynal Zeynalov AZE
Assistant Referee 2: Akif Amirali AZE
Fourth Official: Ingilab Mammadov AZE
Video Assistant Referee: Ivan Bebek CRO
Assistant Video Assistant Referee:
UEFA Referee Observer: Iain Robertson Brines SCOUEFA Delegate: Stijn Hutsebaut BEL
Michael Oliver's appointment in the Europa League... hmm...surprise.
ReplyDeleteThere are no Spanish referees appointed across the three matchdays this week？
ReplyDeleteRennes - Crete now unappointed on uefa.com.
ReplyDeleteLooks like a German referee (probably Stegemann) became unavailable there.
Waiting for Rennes - OFI, missing appointment.
ReplyDeleteIt seems the official have been removed, it was a German crew, maybe Osmers? With Norwegian AVAR. There are already many German crews assigned on this week. However once again we can say that until the very end there are many, many changes in the appointments.
Oliver in Europa League, but this can be an extremely challenging one, we can understand why a top Elite was assigned.
Dabanović with a top-tier assignment, almost a CL one. That's the treatment for the referee from Montenegro, always getting such big games in Europa League but not considered for a further step in his career.
About Belgium, focus is again on Visser, after the famous fame during the summer, D'Hondt seems to have lost big credit. Really sorry for him.
Kikacheishvili with Orsato is a nice assignment as well, maybe it's time for another occasion for the referee from Georgia. I would be happy for him.
With Kovacs still out and Petrescu retirement at the end of the year, Feșnic takes the spotlight as Romanian referee. I didn't watch the heavily critiziced game (maybe too much, I wuld guess?) he had in Nations League, let's see this one with an Italian team involved.
Masiyev in Slovenia, maybe apart from the Serbian observer, he will be watched by Šajn.
Last remark is about Slovenia: you can see how regular are the assignments from the country in UEFA games. We have now one referee in EL and another in ECL.
That is what is missing to the other federation, having a person being worried about keeping consistency in following the own referees.
OK, for a committee member it's easy, but this should be valid for all, if we want to start from an assumption that there are potental good names in all European countries and indeed the contrary argument is that it's not possible all Slovenian referees are talents and they deserve all games. But it's rather a theoretical speech, hard to put into prectice.
The ARs of Rennes - OFI are the ones of Stegemann.
DeleteIn that famous incident, why was the young Belgian referee D’Hondt punished while the player who attacked him received no disciplinary action at all from UEFA? If the Slovenian national team player had been sent off, he might have been banned from football for a year. To me, this seems truly unfair."
DeleteThe criticism for Fresnic was maybe slightly harsh but majority of It I would say was entirely justified, made an easy game look impossible, I'm baffled to see him on such a game but I wish him and all the teams well this week.
DeleteBelgium actually in trouble, I suppose. Lambrechts physical problems (?), the case D’Hondt, was Webb happy with the YC by Vergoote following the jumping tackle (Nations League)
DeleteVan den Driessche who makes a good VAR job in UEFA, himself needed 4x OFR in his last three domestic league matches.
You do not mention Visser, which is curieus. His first 6 matches in JPL this season were again of high level. Of course Vergoote is now pushed to become maybe Elite categorie, but, meanwhile, do not forget Visser still is only 36 years old , he had a long weak period in Belgium, but now can compete again with the top Cat.1 referees. Lambrechts is 42, and seems to have minor physical issues. Lothar D’hondt will come back, but there is another very young and promising referee as well : Bert Verbeke. Remember his name.
DeleteOh yes Bert Verbeke is definitely a name to remember. I have known him for a few years now as one of my referee coaches in Belgium, even from when he was still in amateur leagues. I have always been very impressed by his personality, people skills and more important his ability to analyse his own games and stand up for his failures.
DeleteWith Lindhout as 4th official in van der Eijk's match it seems like van der Eijk has officially passed Lindhout and is considered Dutch nr. 3.
ReplyDeleteVan der Eijk with English VAR and Oliver with Dutch AVAR seems a bit weird, don't know what the idea is behind that choice
VAR is probably because Van der Eijk is a replacement. The KNVB always announces the Dutch referees officiating in Europe, but Van der Eijk was not included in the announcements for this Thursday.
DeleteGood explanation by Hans.
DeleteNot only slovenian which have privileges , don,t you see italian referees
DeleteAll the German officials from the Rennes - OFI match have been removed from the UEFA website
ReplyDeleteChefren, I’m really curious. Why did Rosetti retire so early from his refereeing career? I think he was only 41 years old. Apart from Euro 2008, he didn't officiated any other international final. It seems really interesting to me that a referee of his stature only officiated 20 matches in the Champions League..
ReplyDeleteAllegedly, it is because he felt he lost credibility after the events of Argentina-Mexico at WC2010 and decided to immediately retire. It seems strange at first, because the mistake was (only) by Ayroldi, but when you watch the sequence closely, it becomes more clear. It seems very likely that Rosetti had initially been persuaded by Ayroldi to disallow the goal having gone out to talk to his linesman and the award the offside, before Gabriel Heinze realised what was about to happen. Heinze sprinted towards the Italian referee to say 'you can't do that' in not so many words. Rosetti's demeanour then changes. Had Rosetti awarded the offside and not been (probably) dissuaded by Heinze, the match would have been replayed and many disastrous consequences would have followed. After further talking with Ayroldi, the goal was finally awarded. It was deeply tragic what happened, because not only had Rosetti been let down by a teammate (Calcagno was at the top and would have, I'm sure, detected the offside), the official from Turin was the best referee in the world at the time and handled both of his matches, Ghana-Australia and the Latine duel, in an absolutely outstanding manner. Achieving full control in Argentina-Mexico in spite of what happened (the error was about 30’-ish) was on a 9-like level and beyond deeply impressive.
DeleteSouth Africa 2010 was the last World Cup that refereeing could be proud of, and also caused many far-reaching effects in later years (Rosetti, we recall, was the VAR project leader before he took the lead role at UEFA!), most of all in the harsh treatment of Massimo Busacca after S.Africa-Uruguay.
I was about to write: Mikael can give a better answer than me.
DeleteAnd indeed! Thank you!
Thank you Mihkael🙏🏻
DeleteI just checked the dates... That controversial Argentina - Mexico match really was the last match of his career. What a sad end for him
RENNES - OFI CRETE:
ReplyDeleteAndrea Colombo ITA (and Italian team)
Italian replacement for Rosetti.
DeleteRecently, having to make official the names two days before the games seems to be not enough, given all the changes we see.
From an Austrian perspective, I am not entirely sure whether all of these appointments were originally intended this way. In the trio of Gishamer, Ciochirca and Ebner, I am missing Julian Weinberger, who is regarded as Austria’s number two referee. However, he is only supporting Stefan Ebner as the fourth official in the Conference League. One would actually have expected him to be appointed as the referee in charge.
DeleteOn the other hand, Robert Schörgenhofer seems to be gaining momentum as an observer: most recently he was assigned a match in the UEFA Nations League A, and now he has received an attractive appointment in the Europa League as well.