Bulgarian referee Georgi Kabakov has received another serious recognition from UEFA. The experienced referee will lead the match between Celtic and Celta Vigo from the third round of the Europa League. The match will be held on October 22, Thursday, at 22:00 at the “Celtic Park“ stadium in Glasgow.
Kabakov will rely on a well-known team of Bulgarian referees. His assistants on the touchline will be Martin Margaritov and Martin Venev, and Nikola Popov has been appointed as the fourth official. The video assistant referee (VAR) system will be handled by Germans Søren Strox and Robert Schröder.
The appointment for the Glasgow match comes just a week after the Bulgarian's previous European assignment. At that time, Kabakov refereed the match between the Norwegian Viking and Bayern Munich, which ended in a spectacular 3:3 draw.
The match attracted serious attention due to the red card that the Bulgarian referee showed to Michael Oliseh in the final minutes. The decision caused different reactions, but Kabakov's new appointment shows that UEFA is once again entrusting him with a responsible match in the European club tournaments.
According to the information, his rating for the previous match was probably very good and above 8.3, although the specific result of the referee's evaluation has not been officially stated.
The clash between Celtic and Celta Vigo will be Kabakov's third match in this year's edition of the Europa League. The Bulgarian has already had two matches in the Champions League, as well as one match in the Conference League.
In addition to his European commitments, there is also a match in the UEFA Nations League, and in the Bulgarian championship he has refereed four matches.
Another prestigious assignment confirms Georgi Kabakov's presence among the referees to whom the European football headquarters entrusts high-level matches.