Lots of Hungarian involvement in the Conference League 3QR 1st Leg
2 teams from home, 2 Hungarian teams from outside our borders, 1 team of referees and 2 UEFA match delegates all out and about in the UECL 3rd QR 1st Leg.
2022/23 UEFA Europa Conference League – Third Qualifying Round (I)
Wednesday 3 August 2022
20:30 CET – Dunajská Streda (MOL Aréna)
FC DAC 1904 Dunajská Streda (SVK) – FC FCSB (ROU)
Referee: Rade Obrenovič (SVN, 1st Cat)
Assistant Referee 1: Jure Praprotnik (SVN)
Assistant Referee 2: Grega Kordež (SVN)
Fourth Official: Asmir Sagrkovič (SVN)
UEFA Referee Observer: Stéphane Lannoy (FRA)
UEFA Delegate: Jonathan Leese (ENG)
31 year old Rade Obrenovič has been on the FIFA list since 2017. This will be his 21st adult UEFA match appointment. Last season he refereed one qualifying round match and one group stage match in the UECL. He has refereed FC DAC once during season 19/20 during their Europa League 1st qualifying round 1st leg game v Cracovia. It is his first match involving a team from Romania.
Thursday 4 August 2022
18:00 CET – Turku (Veritas Stadion)
KuPS Kuopio (FIN) – BSC Young Boys (SUI)
Referee: Gergő Bogár (HUN, 2nd Cat)
Assistant Referee 1: Balázs Szalai (HUN)
Assistant Referee 2: Theodoros Georgiou (HUN)
Fourth Official: Ferenc Karakó (HUN)
UEFA Referee Observer: Kýros Vassáras (GRE)
UEFA Delegate: Ronen Hershco (ISR)
Interesting that Bogár is being observed by Kýros Vassáras, as he is one of the top and most important observers at UEFA. He is the UEFA Referee training officer. I assume that Bogár is being considered for promotion in December, however for that to happen either UEFA have to allow us 3 Category 1 referees, at the moment we can only have 2, or one of Vad II István or Bognár Tamás will need to retire/stand down or be be demoted to Category 2. For the sake of Hungarian refereeing I hope it happens, neither Vad II or Bognár will be promoted to the elite list, they are too old, so we need Bogár promoted to Category 1 as soon as possible. Bogár was promoted to the FIFA list when Kassai Viktor retired in December 2019 and Hungary have not had an elite level referee since. Bogár is destined to be our next elite referee so needs promoting NOW! If he does get promoted when the new list is out in January he would most certainly be a very strong candidate for the ‘Talent and mentoring group’ which would potentially see him fast tracked to the elite group.
19:00 CET – Molde (Aker Stadion)
Molde FK (NOR) – Kisvárda FC (HUN)
Referee: Igor Stojčevski (MKD, 2nd Cat)
Assistant Referee 1: Dejan Kostadinov (MKD)
Assistant Referee 2: Goce Petreski (MKD)
Fourth Official: Marjan Dejanoski (MKD)
UEFA Referee Observer: Boško Jovanetić (SRB)
UEFA Delegate: Zgjim Sojeva (KOS)
UEFA Referee Liaison Officer:
Igor Stojčevski is a 2nd year FIFA referee having been appointed to the list in January 2012. This will be his 4th appointment to an adult UEFA match and his first in the UECL. He has not refereed a team from either nation at any level.
20:00 CET – Prishtina (Stadiumi Fadil Vokrri)
KF Ballkani (KOS) – KÍ Klaksvík (FRO)
Referee: Espen Andreas Eskås (NOR, 1st Cat)
Assistant Referee 1: Jan Erik Engan (NOR)
Assistant Referee 2: Isaak Elias Skjeseth Bashevkin (NOR)
Fourth Official: Kristoffer Hagenes (NOR)
UEFA Referee Observer: Alieh Čykun (BLR)
UEFA Delegate: Vilmos Szabó (HUN)
20:00 CET – Sfântu Gheorghe (Arena Sepsi OSK)
Sepsi OSK Sfântu Gheorghe (ROU) – Djurgårdens IF (SWE)
Referee: Paweł Raczkowski (POL, 1st Cat)
Assistant Referee 1: Radosław Siejka (POL)
Assistant Referee 2: Adam Kupsik (POL)
Fourth Official: Piotr Lasyk (POL)
UEFA Referee Observer: Salustià Chato Ciprés (AND)
UEFA Delegate: Attila Tömő (HUN)
39 year old Paweł Raczkowski from Warsaw has been on the FIFA list of referees since 2013. He’s an experienced referee with over 55 international appointments to his name. In terms of Romanian teams he has refereed both Astra Giurgiu (14/15 & 16/17 UEL group stage) and FCSB (15/16 UCL QR2) previously but this is his first time refereeing Sepsi. He has refereed teams from Sweden previously but this is his first match refereeing Djurgårdens IF.
20:30 CET – Székesfehérvár (MOL Aréna Sóstó)
MOL Fehérvár FC (HUN) – FC Petrocub-Hîncești (MDV)
Referee: Vilhjálmur Alvar Þórarinsson (ISL, 2nd Cat)
Assistant Referee 1: Gylfi Már Sigurðsson (ISL)
Assistant Referee 2: Birkir Sigurðarson (ISL)
Fourth Official: Helgi Mikael Jónasson (ISL)
UEFA Referee Observer: Jan Carlsen (DEN)
UEFA Delegate: José Guilherme Saraiva de Oliveira Aguiar (POR)
37 year old Vilhjálmur Alvar Þórarinsson has been on the FIFA list since 2015. This will be his 30th adult UEFA appointment. In terms of teams from Hungary, he has refereed the U21 National team in season 15/16 in a Euros U21 qualifying game and more recently the adult national team in season 20/21 when we beat Andorra 4-1 away in the World Cup Qualifiers. I remember he put in an excellent performance that night. His only prior involvement with a team from Moldova is in season 17/18 when he refereed FC Zimbru Chisinau U19 in the UEFA Youth league. This will be his first time officiating either team.