After more than a year, Ovidiu Hațegan will referee an official match at the again. The 42-year-old referee was appointed to the Unirea Ungheni – Corvinul Hunedoara match, the first leg of the promotion play-off in League 2, on Saturday, 3 June 2023. Hațegan will be joined by assistants Sebastian Gheorghe and Alexandru Corb, fourth official Mircea Ardelean, and observer Ioan Onicas.
At the end of March 2022, Ovidiu Hațegan suffered a heart attack at the end of a training session. The surgical intervention was successful, the issue being solved with a stent. At that time, Hațegan was on the list of candidate referees expected to go to Qatar for the World Cup towards the end of the year. He needed a recovery period, but he resumed his activity as VAR only 3 months after the heart surgery he went through, at the Romanian Supercup, the first match with the VAR system in Romanian football. Later he was appointed VAR and some European matches. The last official match that Ovidiu Hațegan refereed on the field was Olympique Lyon – FC Porto, 1-1, played on 17 March 2022, in the UEFA Europa League. On 20 April 2023, Hațegan was invited by his local club UTA to referee a friendly game between the senior team and the U-18 team.
Source: FRF