Wednesday next week, the Champions League final between Manchester United and Chelsea is played. I have a passion for refereeing football, and will try to predict whom UEFA will appoint as referee this evening.
The appointment of Peter Frøjdfeldt (SWE) as referee in the UEFA cup final excludes him. He last refereed a top match with the 2nd leg quarterfinal between Liverpool and Arsenal.
I’ve done some research at UEFA.com and the last three seasons the final referee refereed a Champions League quarterfinal as his last top match.
- 2006-2007 Herbert Fandel (GER) refereed the quarter-final between AS Roma and Manchester United.
- 2005-2006 Terje Hauge (NOR) refereed the quarter-final between Milan and Lyon.
- 2004-2005 Manuel Enrique Mejuto González (ESP) refereed the quarter-final between Bayern and Chelsea.
And the exception that proves the rule:
- 2003-2004 Kim Milton Nielsen (DEN) refereed the UEFA Cup quarter-final between Inter and Marseille.
Our line-up will then be:
Frank De Bleeckere (BEL) UEFA Cup semi-final
Tom Henning Øvrebø (NOR) UEFA Cup semi-final
Kyros Vassaras (GRE) UEFA Cup semi-final
Roberto Rosetti (ITA) Champions League semi-final
Claus Bo Larsen (DEN)
Herbert Fandel (GER) Champions League semi-final
Pieter Vink (NED)
Peter Frøjdfeldt (SWE) UEFA Cup final
From this list we can safely assume that Peter Frøjdfeldt will not referee the final in Moscow.
We can also exclude Tom Henning Øvrebø, Kyros Vassaras and Franck De Bleeckere as they refereed one semi-final each in the UEFA Cup. Roberto Rosetti and Herbert Fandel both refereed a semi-final in the Champions League and will not be chosen for the final.
So, we are left with two names, Claus Bo Larsen from Denmark or Pieter Vink from the Netherlands. Claus Bo Larsen was not selected for EURO 2008 and Pieter Vink had a very unfortunate quarterfinal as he missed a blatant penalty in the last minutes of the game.
Based on these two names I would assume that UEFA ranks Pieter Vink above Claus Bo Larsen. At the same time, his last performance in the Champions League made some headlines, and this was after the EURO 2008 announcement. Pieter Vink is also two years younger than Claus Bo Larsen and have many years left on the top level.
My bet is on Claus Bo Larsen.
The appointments for the final will be announced monday 19th of May.
Update: I’m currently not the only one guessing the referee : http://www.soccernews.com/bo-knows-best-danish-ref-set-for-champions-league-date/2046/
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put howard webb to be the champions league final refere
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