The first leg of the third qualifying round of the Champions League match between Dynamo Kyiv and Rangers is scheduled to take place in Lublin on 6 August 2024 at 21:00. Polish referees Bartosz Frankowski and Tomasz Musial were appointed as VAR and AVAR, respectively. However, last night they got caught under the influence of alcohol. At 1:43 a.m. local time, they were detained by the Lublin police while intoxicated: 1.7 ppm of alcohol was detected in Frankowski and 1.8 ppm in Musial. Along with another drunk friend, they stole a road sign and fled with it toward a shopping center. The three men will be tried for the destruction of road infrastructure. “At about 1:40 a.m., we got a report that three men carry a road sign down the street. Police officers were sent to the scene. All men were intoxicated and had more than 1.5 milligrams of alcohol in their blood. They were brought to the sobering room”, said Kamil Golebiowski, press officer of the Municipal Police Headquarters in Lublin. Asked for a comment, Tomasz Mikulski, the head of the PZPN referees, didn't know anything about the case. On the official UEFA website, the listed referees no longer appear for this match. Their place will be taken by another two Polish VMOs: Tomasz Kwiatkowski and Paweł Malec. (Source: TVP)
Only one year and a half ago, four Polish officials - Pawel Raczkowski, Radoslav Siecka, Adam Kupsik and Kristof Jakubik - arrived in Greece to referee the match AEK - Aris, but they were quickly removed from the game. Reports within the local media has suggested that the issue began the night before, when the officiating team were travelling to Greece. "Already during the flight, they got into a fight with Greek passengers who live in Poland and were coming to visit their homeland," a media report from Gazzetta.gr stated. "The four referees had a conversation about Greek football, saying terrible things while consuming large quantities of alcohol on the plane." The governing body of Greek football acted quickly upon hearing about the issue, removing the Polish officials from the match and replacing them with a local team. Gazzetta.gr reporters were able to contact the referees in question and they vehemently denied the accusations made against them. "Everything that was written about us being drunk is a lie," one official is quoted as saying. "We are professional referees, and we would never behave that way. What happened during the fight was this: two passengers who spoke both languages started insulting us for no reason, they told us that they support Panathinaikos and that the next day they would tell everything to the press, and we wouldn't be able to work the match." After an investigation, Pawel Raczkowski and the other officials returned to refereeing. (Source: Marca)