europa league

The referee for the Champions League final has been announced.

The referee for the Europa League final has been announced.

As has become a yearly ritual I will try to predict the referee selection of Uefa’s referees committee for the two European finals coming up, the Champions League final and the Europa League final. This is the first season where both competitions are refereed with additional assistant referees.

I correctly predicted Howard Webb to referee last year’s final, but missed Nicola Rizzoli in the Europa League final.

First, let me take a crack at the Champions League final.

Champions League

The last ten years of Champions League finals only twice has the final referee not done a quarter-final leg. Lubos Michel did a semi-final in the Uefa cup, and Kim Milton Nielsen did a match in the round of 16 in Champions League before being named final referee. From this data we can deduct that our final referee will have refereed a quarter-final in this season’s Champions League.

Felix Brych Not Germany’s no. 1.
Nicola Rizzoli
Martin Atkinson English team in the final.
Damir Skomina
Alberto Mallenco Spanish team in the final.
Olegario Benquerença
Craig Thomson Refereed EL semi, Scottish
Florian Meyer Not Germany’s no. 1.

These eight referees refereed a quarter-final leg each. To start with we can remove Atkinson and Mallenco due to a Spanish and English team playing in the final. It is highly unlikely that Craig Thomson will get the game, as he refereed a Europa League semi-final, and he is a Scot. Florian Meyer and Felix Brych are both highly regarded referees, but neither are Germany’s number 1 referee. If any German referee should get the final it should be Wolfgang Stark. As he did a semi-final he will not be in the run-in for the final.

We are then left with Nicola Rizzoli, Damir Skomina, and Olegario Benquerença.

Damir Skomina is only 35 years old, and if he got the final he would be the youngest Champions League final referee ever. If he continues his current streak of good matches he will get the final in the future. If he were to get a final this season he would copy Lubos Michel who refereed the Uefa Cup final when he was thirty-five.

Nicola Rizzoli had last year’s Europa League final, and has been excellent in this year’s Champions League. It would not be a shock if the Italian got two consecutive European finals, it happened with Herbert Fandel in 2006 and 2007. With only 9 Champions League games under his belt it may be a bit early for him to get the final match.

Olegario Benquerença has also been excellent in this year’s tournament, and he is more experienced than both Skomina and Rizzoli. He was trusted with Manchester United – Chelsea in the quarter-final, a brilliant refereed match. One issue who could deny the Portugese his final moment could be the fact that he will referee a neighbouring country (Spain) in the final. Uefa has not given it much thought earlier this season as Pedro Proença did referee Real Madrid – AC Milan. Another aspect is that Portugal has never had a Champions League final referee, and now when they have two highly ranked referees it would be the perfect moment for Uefa to nominate Benquerença for the final.

My guess for the Champions League final: Olegario Benquerença, Portugal.

Europa League

Guessing the Europa League final referee is always difficult. The last few years the Europa League final referee has refereed a Champions League quarter-final or a match in the round of 16. We basically have the same candidates as we did for the Champions League final.

Felix Brych
Nicola Rizzoli Refereed EL final ’10.
Martin Atkinson Refereed EL semi.
Damir Skomina
Alberto Mallenco
Olegario Benquerença Portugese teams in final.
Craig Thomson Refereed EL semi.
Florian Meyer

With Stark getting a CL semi, both Brych and Meyer could get another match. Brych is a future CL final referee, but he could easily get the EL final soon. He has refereed a CL quarter-final the last two years.

Alberto Undiano Mallenco did referee the CL quarter-final between Chelsea and Manchester United. He did a great match until the final minutes where he missed a penalty. I believe that error should put him out of the candidacy for the EL final.

I would love to see the Belgian referee Frank De Bleeckere get this final, but he was selected to referee a CL semifinal. He is in his last season as an international referee, and has not been selected to any major European finals.

My guess for the Europa League final: Damir Skomina, Slovenia

Who do you think will handle these two European finals?

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