Referee suspended by UEFA appointed to Sabah's decisive match
The refereeing appointments for the return match between Sabah and Hapoel Be'er Sheva in the playoff round of the UEFA Champions League have been announced.
According to the official UEFA website, the match will be officiated by a Romanian team of referees headed by the well-known official Istvan Kovacs.
The assistants to the head referee will be Mihai Marica and Ferencz Tunyogi. Szabolcs Kovacs will act as the fourth official. German Bastian Dankert will be in charge of the VAR system, with Romanian Catalin Popa appointed as his assistant.
Kovacs' appointment is notable because last season UEFA suspended the Romanian referee until the end of the season following the Champions League quarterfinal match between Barcelona and Atletico (0:2). UEFA noted several errors made by the referee in that match.
After the match, Barcelona filed an official complaint with UEFA about the work of the refereeing team and VAR. In particular, the Catalan club drew attention to the episode in the 54th minute, when an Atletico player handled the ball in his own penalty area, but no penalty was awarded.
At the same time, Kovacs retained his high international status and was included in FIFA's list of referees for the 2026 World Cup.
The Romanian is considered one of the most well-known European referees of recent years. He officiated the 2025 Champions League final between PSG and Inter, the 2023 Europa League final between Atalanta and Bayer, as well as the decisive 2022 Conference League match between Roma and Feyenoord.
The return match between Sabah and Hapoel will take place on August 25 at the Tofiq Bahramov Republican Stadium and will begin at 20:45.
In the first match, the Israeli club won with a score of 2:1.
