UEFA Competitions: Referee discussions 2025-2026 [Rs]

Assignments are already made. But that could be one option, yes.

For some reason I think Scotland-Denmark will have a French referee, so that's another option. Feel like that's either Turpin, Letexier or Marciniak.

With Italy/Norway, UEFA needs to insure against the possibility that Norway might drop points to Estonia. It seems unlikely, but the return leg was only 0-1 and if it became a must-win match, you can't have someone second tier there. So I'm very interested to see what UEFA comes up with. I could see it someone "big" like Taylor or Makkelie where UEFA will trust them if it's a huge match but won't care about using them if it's not. But it could also be someone a little closer to how ever you classify the second tier, like Siebert or Meler.

 

I hadn't seen his name but also wasn't looking for it. Presumed it would have been noted if he was wrapped up in it.

 

Notable Saturday:

OLIVER on Bosnia-Herzegovina : Romania
GIL MANZANO on Greece : Scotland
TURPIN on Slovenia : Kosovo
SCHNYDER on Cyprus : Austria

Really no way to predict any of these and say they are "expected" until you see the entire cohort and evaluate where everyone landed. But, on the whole, nothing stands out here as crazy. Turpin's name did hit me for a second, but the playoff race in that group is very real if Slovenia wins there; for that matter, I now expect big names in the final two matches of Group B, too (Kosovo at home to Switzerland for a chance at direct World Cup qualification could be rather spicy, if that's the scenario that unfolds; if Turpin is on MD5, it's got to be another huge name in Kosovo on MD6).

 

Yeah, I also think in the current day and age there's more of a "if you're unsure, go yellow" feeling to these sort of things. I also think ARs are more likely to say "I've got enough for yellow, but didn't see it all clearly" or some variation. All because of VAR, of course. Doesn't make it right and it's not technically taught, but it's better than the alternative in a lot of ways. The days of "it's either red or nothing" feel like they are kind of behind us except for a very narrow set of incidents.

That's what was a little weird about the Suarez one. Enough for a foul, but no misconduct is a weird one. But in that case, it was a trail AR or 4th saving the day and Chapman not really seeing any of it at all, so I get how it happened.

 

MD6, Sunday posted: https://law5-theref.blogspot.com/2025/11/202526-fifa-wc-european-qualifiers_14.html

Notable:

ESKAS on Hungary : Republic of Ireland
PELJTO on Portugal : Armenia

TAYLOR on Ukraine : Iceland

HERNANDEZ HERNANDEZ on Italy : Norway

Hernandez Hernandez is an interesting way to have solved the Italy problem. I think he fits as an insurance policy, though it also seems like quite a big risk if Norway had dropped points. So I guess the answer here is UEFA bet pretty strongly that Norway wouldn't drop points.

Taylor makes total sense.

Eskas gets a big one now. He fits.

Peljto is interesting but he's on the border for the WC, you'd think. And prior to yesterday, you would have bet Portugal at home wouldn't matter. So either UEFA made a good bet here (holding an Elite referee for a game that could have been meaningless) or perhaps Peljto isn't held in as high regard as we think at the moment? Or, with Bosnia still alive and other conflicts due to prior assignments, he just sort of fit here. Still, Portugal just needs one point so I think overall you'd have to think he'd be personally disappointed with this assignment at the moment. I still imagine he gets a playoff match, though.

 

Lest anyone think Dale's replacement would be a marked improvement, what with his Championship referee pedigree, his first international window and he uncorks--verbatim--my single biggest pet peeve LOTG myth. To wit:

https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/46962874/var-review-why-was-cristiano-ronaldo-sent-portugal

No. No, it doesn't. It says absolutely nothing of the sort. How on earth do high-level accomplished professional referees repeat this? He's supposed to be explaining things to the masses and he asserts something that is totally untrue.

 

Notable Monday:

LETEXIER on Germany : Slovakia

And that's really it. Monday is a weirdly unimportant day.

MELER is on Montenegro : Croatia, which is a tough affair but irrelevant insofar as qualifications implications go. But notable he's working given the questions about Turkey.

 

Right. That was always the explanation for anyone who actually stood by it or tried to find a justification when pressed.

All these people lived in a world, of course, where flailing arms and accidental hands to the face were simply countenanced on the field because, since they weren't red cards, they obviously couldn't be fouls. After all it's impossible to carelessly strike someone. Nevermind that we've had literal instruction on what reckless striking is for the past 20+ years.

 

Marciniak, Zwayer, Makkelie, and Pinherio are the four best referees who are unassigned.

Siebert and Scharer also, but both appear injured. Massa is, at this point, a second-tier alternative.

Also, North Macedonia is through to the playoffs now. That match, while interesting, is only actually relevant if Belgium loses to Liechtenstein at home, which is, of course, not happening. But UEFA wouldn't have known that when it made the assignment.

I'd expect Marciniak in Vienna and Zwayer in Glasgow. Makkelie in Cardiff.

Remember that the Group B matches could have both been relevant if results went a little differently (both within and without the group, given Sweden's weird position in the larger landscape). And none of those four teams are exactly minnows. So you'll probably see some halfway decent names there, maybe even Pinherio. Hard to say.

But I think the Austria and Scotland matches are the two that were always certain to be consequential, so that's where I'd expect your two top referees to land.

 

Giving red cards against Ceferin's home nation in important matches is a dangerous game:

https://streamain.com/en/sZBdG2Wv34Arxsc/watch

 

Same group, terrible decision. We could use VAR to catch and punish cheating or, I suppose, we could not. Choosing the latter is an interesting option.

https://www.streambug.io/cv/c28e86