A referee from Luxembourg with only three years of experience in Europe will referee the first match of the third qualifying round of the UEFA Conference League tournament between Zalgiris Kaunas (Lithuania) and the Bulgarian Arda (Kardzhali), BTA reported.
However, 30-year-old Jeremy Muller is in the group of talents that the European football headquarters is monitoring very closely and a serious future is expected from him, writes the referee website Referee Abroad.
Raphael Morim and Dani Dias Balsha from Luxembourg will be Muller's assistants, and those responsible for the video assistant referee system (VAR) are from Austria. The main VAR referee is Christian-Petru Chokirca, and the assistant VAR referee is Harald Lechner.
The match on August 7 (Thursday) at 7:00 p.m. will be played at the renovated Darius i Girenas Stadium, where the Bulgarian national team two years ago finished 1:1 with the representative team of Lithuania (June 17, 2023).
A refereeing team from Croatia has been sent by UEFA for the return match, which is scheduled for August 14 at 9:30 p.m. at the Arena Arda stadium in Kardzhali. The main referee will be Ante Chulina with assistants Ivan Mihali and Christian Novosel. The fourth official is Antonio Melnjak, and the VAR system is handled by Mario Zebec and Fran Jovic.
Arda eliminated the Finnish HIK (Helsinki) yesterday after a 0:0 draw in the first leg, 2:2 in regular time and extra time in the second leg and a penalty shootout victory. The Lithuanians from Zalgiris (Kaunas) managed to beat the Icelandic Valur (Reykjavik).