“It’s still hard for me to believe at the moment,” the 42-year-old Russian match official told UEFA.com after learning of his assignment to take charge of the annual curtain-raiser to the new club competition season. “It will fully come home to me as the match gets closer. It will be something special to walk out on to the field. This is a great honour, and I’m grateful for the trust that UEFA has shown in me and my team,” added the Moscow-based father of three, who is enjoying a positive summer – the call-up for this week’s big game at Northern Ireland’s National Football Stadium at Windsor Park follows a month as part of the acclaimed UEFA Euro 2020 refereeing squad.
Karasev took up refereeing as a teenager. His path was similar to many other top officials who saw refereeing rather than playing as a better way for them to be involved in football. “It came about through my father,” he says. “I was playing youth football, and one day, when I was 16, one of his work colleagues was the match referee. He spoke about refereeing with my Dad, who suggested to me that I try it. I continued playing until I was 18, and then I decided to put refereeing before playing. I realised that I wasn’t going to be a professional footballer, so I started taking charge of amateur matches – I soon knew that refereeing was for me, and that I could stay in football for a longer time than I would as a player.” The move proved judicious. Karasev eventually also chose to pursue refereeing instead of becoming a lawyer after university studies, rose through the ranks, and by his late 20s, he was ready in 2008, as part of a new generation of promising young Russian officials, to take charge of his first domestic top-fight match. The FIFA international badge followed two years later, and he has never looked back since – his performances earning him regular assignments in the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League and major national team competitions. In addition to Euro 2020 duty, he also featured in the referees’ teams for UEFA EURO 2016 and the 2018 FIFA World Cup. “I’ve always been realistic where objectives are concerned,” he reflected. “I’ve taken things step by step. The first target was to establish myself in the Russian Premier League – I didn’t really think of the Champions League or EUROs. I just aimed to do as well as I could along the way.” Watching Champions League matches on TV as a young referee helped Karasev collect the tools that would serve him well on his career pathway. “I didn’t have a role model as such,” he explains. “But there were some great referees around at that time – I tried to take the best parts of all of them, put together the pieces like a puzzle and develop my own style.” He insists that his success would be impossible without the crucial contribution of his fellow officials. “You can’t do the job alone,” he said. “I’ve been together with Igor and Maksim as a team for three years now, and the Super Cup appointment is a reward for the hard work that we’ve put in. When we’re lining up with the teams before the match on Wednesday, I think we’ll all be feeling a great sense of achievement.” Karasev places considerable emphasis on human skills as a key to efficient refereeing. “Of course, you have to be strong,” he says, “but you must have soft skills to manage players, coaches and situations. You need flexibility, and to respect everyone involved in a match. If you show your human side, it helps you to gain respect as well.” The challenge of refereeing high-stake matches in front of big crowds presents no problem. “If there are 80,000 people in a stadium, it acts as a motivation for me,” Karasev says. “It doesn’t really disturb me either, because I’m concentrated on the match. But I will say that it’s been quite a different feeling to take charge of matches during the COVID period, when spectators haven’t been present. You do miss the special atmosphere generated by a crowd.” Selection for the Euro 2020 referee team this summer gave Karasev particular pleasure, and the experience of taking charge of three matches, including the round of 16 encounter between Netherlands and Czech Republic, and acting as fourth official at three other games has left a glowing memory, especially as the EURO referee team earned considerable plaudits for the quality of their displays. “It was an unbelievable experience, I really enjoyed it, and I felt that I made progress,” he says. “There was respect between referees, players and coaches at the tournament, and I think that this was a great factor in why the referees performed so well.”
Away from the game, Karasev enjoys quality time with his family, watching sport on TV, and honing his skills as a guitar player. “I play electric guitar, and I like heavy metal music,” he says. “But I don’t disturb the family! I practice at another place in our village, and I wear headphones. When I play, I’m able to bring out other emotions than when I’m refereeing. With my assistants, we listen to music in the dressing-room when we prepare for matches, but I don’t force my particular musical tastes onto the guys!” The Super Cup encounter is the latest step on Sergei Karasev’s outstanding refereeing road. But what comes afterwards? “First things first – we want to produce the best performance possible in Belfast,” he says. “If no one speaks about the refereeing, then we’ve done our job. After this, I can think of the next stage – I’m not particularly a ‘dreamer’ as such. I’ll keep my feet on the ground and keep doing absolutely the best that I can.” (Source: UEFA)
11 August 2021
Chelsea – Villarreal
Referee: Sergei Karasev (RUS)
Assistant Referee 1: Igor Demeshko (RUS)
Assistant Referee 2: Maksim Gavrilin (RUS)
Fourth Official: Aleksei Kulbakov (BLR)
Reserve AR: Filippo Meli (ITA)
VAR: Marco Fritz (GER)
AVAR 1: Pawel Gil (POL)
AVAR 2: Massimiliano Irrati (ITA)
Referee Observer: Roberto Rosetti (ITA)