CONMEBOL Copa Libertadores – Third Round (First Leg)

20-22 February 2019

Melgar – Caracas
Referee: Luiz de Oliveira (BRA, photo)
Assistant Referee 1: Kleber Gil (BRA)
Assistant Referee 2: Danilo Manis (BRA)
Fourth Official: Wagner Reway (BRA)
Referee Assessor: Claudio Puga (CHI)

Talleres – Palestino
Referee: Alexis Herrera (VEN)
Assistant Referee 1: Carlos Lopez (VEN)
Assistant Referee 2: Lubin Torrealba (VEN)
Fourth Official: Orlando Bracamonte (VEN)
Referee Assessor: Ubaldo Aquino (PAR)

Defensor SC – Atletico Mineiro
Referee: Nestor Pitana (ARG)
Assistant Referee 1: Juan Belatti (ARG)
Assistant Referee 2: Pablo Gonzalez (ARG)
Fourth Official: Fernando Espinoza (ARG)
Referee Assessor: Joel Ruiz (PAR)

Club Libertad – Atletico Nacional
Referee: Fernando Rapallini (ARG)
Assistant Referee 1: Hernan Maidana (ARG)
Assistant Referee 2: Maximiliano Del Yesso (ARG)
Fourth Official: Silvio Trucco (ARG)
Referee Assessor: Roberto Silvera (URU)

CONMEBOL Copa Sudamericana – First Round (Second Leg, I)

19-21 February 2019

Chapecoense – Union La Calera
Referee: Jose Argote (VEN, photo)
Assistant Referee 1: Luis Murillo (VEN)
Assistant Referee 2: Alberto Ponte (VEN)
Fourth Official: Angel Arteaga (VEN)
Referee Assessor: Juan Cardellino (URU)

Defensa y Justicia – Botafogo
Referee: Diego Haro (PER)
Assistant Referee 1: Jonny Bossio (PER)
Assistant Referee 2: Jesus Sanchez (PER)
Fourth Official: Miguel Santivanez (PER)
Referee Assessor: Imer Machado (COL)

Liverpool – Bahia
Referee: Gery Vargas (BOL)
Assistant Referee 1: Jose Antelo (BOL)
Assistant Referee 2: Edwar Saavedra (BOL)
Fourth Official: Luis Yrusta (BOL)
Referee Assessor: Sergio Viola (ARG)

Once Caldas – Deportivo Santani
Referee: Raphael Claus (BRA)
Assistant Referee 1: Marcelo Van Gasse (BRA)
Assistant Referee 2: Bruno Boschilia (BRA)
Fourth Official: Braulio Machado (BRA)
Referee Assessor: Juan Corozo (ECU)

UEFA Europa League – Round of 32 (Second Leg)

20-21 February 2019

Sevilla – Lazio
Referee: Anthony Taylor (ENG, photo)
Assistant Referee 1: Gary Beswick (ENG)
Assistant Referee 2: Adam Nunn (ENG)
Fourth Official: Lee Betts (ENG)
Additional AR 1: Stuart Attwell (ENG)
Additional AR 2: Martin Atkinson (ENG)
Referee Observer: Peter Sippel (GER)

GNK Dinamo – Viktoria Plzeň
Referee: Istvan Kovacs (ROU)
Assistant Referee 1: Vasile Marinescu (ROU)
Assistant Referee 2: Mihai Artene (ROU)
Fourth Official: Alexandru Cerei (ROU)
Additional AR 1: Marius Avram (ROU)
Additional AR 2: Horațiu Feșnic (ROU)
Referee Observer: Alain Hamer (LUX)

Red Bull Salzburg – Club Brugge
Referee: Daniel Siebert (GER)
Assistant Referee 1: Jan Seidel (GER)
Assistant Referee 2: Markus Häcker (GER)
Fourth Official: Stefan Lupp (GER)
Additional AR 1: Marco Fritz (GER)
Additional AR 2: Harm Osmers (GER)
Referee Observer: Patrick Kelly (IRL)

SSC Napoli – FC Zürich
Referee: Anastasios Sidiropoulos (GRE)
Assistant Referee 1: Polychronis Kostaras (GRE)
Assistant Referee 2: Lazaros Dimitriadis (GRE)
Fourth Official: Damianos Efthymiadis (GRE)
Additional AR 1: Anastasios Papapetrou (GRE)
Additional AR 2: Ioannis Papadopoulos (GRE)
Referee Observer: Sergey Zuyev (RUS)

Eintracht Frankfurt – Shakhtar Donetsk
Referee: Antonio Mateu Lahoz (ESP)
Assistant Referee 1: Pau Cebrian Devís (ESP)
Assistant Referee 2: Roberto Díaz Perez (ESP)
Fourth Official: Teodoro Sobrino Magan (ESP)
Additional AR 1: Ricardo de Burgos Bengoetxea (ESP)
Additional AR 2: Santiago Jaime Latre (ESP)
Referee Observer: Muharrem Aksoy (TUR)

Valencia – Celtic
Referee: Deniz Aytekin (GER)
Assistant Referee 1: Eduard Beitinger (GER)
Assistant Referee 2: Rafael Foltyn (GER)
Fourth Official: Christian Gittelmann (GER)
Additional AR 1: Christian Dingert (GER)
Additional AR 2: Benjamin Cortus (GER)
Referee Observer: Paulius Malžinskas (LTU)

Zenit – Fenerbahçe
Referee: Michael Oliver (ENG)
Assistant Referee 1: Stuart Burt (ENG)
Assistant Referee 2: Simon Bennett (ENG)
Fourth Official: Ian Hussin (ENG)
Additional AR 1: Christopher Kavanagh (ENG)
Additional AR 2: Andre Marriner (ENG)
Referee Observer: Martin Ingvarsson (SWE)

Villarreal – Sporting
Referee: Pavel Královec (CZE)
Assistant Referee 1: Ivo Nádvorník (CZE)
Assistant Referee 2: Tomáš Mokrusch (CZE)
Fourth Official: Jan Paták (CZE)
Additional AR 1: Petr Ardeleanu (CZE)
Additional AR 2: Karel Hrubeš (CZE)
Referee Observer: Kýros Vasáras (GRE)

Arsenal FC – Bate Borisov
Referee: Alberto Undiano Mallenco (ESP)
Assistant Referee 1: Raul Cabañero Martínez (ESP)
Assistant Referee 2: Iñigo Prieto Lopez (ESP)
Fourth Official: Diego Barbero Sevilla (ESP)
Additional AR 1: Xavier Estrada Fernandez (ESP)
Additional AR 2: Jose Munuera Montero (ESP)
Referee Observer: Nuno Castro (POR)

Internazionale Milano – Rapid Wien
Referee: Artur Soares Dias (POR)
Assistant Referee 1: Rui Barbosa (POR)
Assistant Referee 2: Paulo Santos (POR)
Fourth Official: Bruno Campos (POR)
Additional AR 1: Tiago Martins (POR)
Additional AR 2: João Pinheiro (POR)
Referee Observer: Rodger Gifford (WAL)

KRC Genk – Slavia Praha
Referee: Robert Madden (SCO)
Assistant Referee 1: Francis Connor (SCO)
Assistant Referee 2: Alan Mulvanny (SCO)
Fourth Official: David Roome (SCO)
Additional AR 1: Kevin Clancy (SCO)
Additional AR 2: Donald Robertson (SCO)
Referee Observer: Haim Jakov (ISR)

Bayer Leverkusen – FC Krasnodar
Referee: Gediminas Mažeika (LTU)
Assistant Referee 1: Vytautas Šimkus (LTU)
Assistant Referee 2: Vytenis Kazlauskas (LTU)
Fourth Official: Dovydas Sužiedėlis (LTU)
Additional AR 1: Donatas Rumšas (LTU)
Additional AR 2: Robertas Valikonis (LTU)
Referee Observer: Karen Nalbandyan (ARM)

Chelsea FC – Malmö FF
Referee: Orel Grinfeld (ISR)
Assistant Referee 1: Dvir Shimon (ISR)
Assistant Referee 2: Roi Hasan (ISR)
Fourth Official: Idan Yarkoni (ISR)
Additional AR 1: Erez Papir (ISR)
Additional AR 2: Ziv Adler (ISR)
Referee Observer: Iain Robertson Brines (SCO)

Real Betis – Stade Rennais
Referee: Viktor Kassai (HUN)
Assistant Referee 1: György Ring (HUN)
Assistant Referee 2: Vencel Tóth (HUN)
Fourth Official: Péter Berettyán (HUN)
Additional AR 1: Tamás Bognár (HUN)
Additional AR 2: Balázs Berke (HUN)
Referee Observer: Rune Pedersen (NOR)

Dynamo Kyiv – Olympiakos FC
Referee: Ivan Kružliak (SVK)
Assistant Referee 1: Tomáš Somolani (SVK)
Assistant Referee 2: Branislav Hancko (SVK)
Fourth Official: Ján Pozor (SVK)
Additional AR 1: Peter Kráľovič (SVK)
Additional AR 2: Filip Glova (SVK)
Referee Observer: Lucílio Batista (POR)

Benfica – Galatasaray
Referee: Ovidiu Hațegan (ROU)
Assistant Referee 1: Octavian Șovre (ROU)
Assistant Referee 2: Sebastian Gheorghe (ROU)
Fourth Official: Radu Ghinguleac (ROU)
Additional AR 1: Radu Petrescu (ROU)
Additional AR 2: Sebastian Colțescu (ROU)
Referee Observer: Kaj Natri (FIN)

UEFA Champions League – Round of 16 (First Leg, II)

19 February 2019
Liverpool – Bayern München
Referee: Gianluca Rocchi (ITA, photo)
Assistant Referee 1: Filippo Meli (ITA)
Assistant Referee 2: Matteo Passeri (ITA)
Fourth Official: Paolo Valeri (ITA)
VAR: Massimiliano Irrati (ITA)
AVAR: Marco Guida (ITA)
Referee Observer: William Young (SCO)

Olympique Lyonnais – FC Barcelona
Referee: Cüneyt Çakır (TUR)
Assistant Referee 1: Bahattin Duran (TUR)
Assistant Referee 2: Tarık Ongun (TUR)
Fourth Official: Halis Özkahya (TUR)
VAR: Danny Makkelie (NED)
AVAR: Jochem Kamphuis (NED)
Referee Observer: Marcel Vanelshocht (BEL)

20 February 2019
FC Schalke – Manchester City
Referee: Carlos Del Cerro Grande (ESP)
Assistant Referee 1: Juan Yuste Jimenez (ESP)
Assistant Referee 2: Roberto Alonso Fernandez (ESP)
Fourth Official: Jose Sanchez Martínez (ESP)
VAR: Alejandro Hernandez Hernandez (ESP)
AVAR: Juan Martínez Munuera (ESP)
Referee Observer: Murat Ilgaz (TUR)

Atletico de Madrid – Juventus
Referee: Felix Zwayer (GER)
Assistant Referee 1: Thorsten Schiffner (GER)
Assistant Referee 2: Marco Achmüller (GER)
Fourth Official: Tobias Welz (GER)
VAR: Bastian Dankert (GER)
AVAR: Sascha Stegemann (GER)
Referee Observer: Oğuz Sarvan (TUR)

UEFA Youth League – Play-offs

19-20 February 2019

GNK Dinamo – Lokomotiv Moskva
Referee: Fabio Costa Veríssimo (POR, photo)
Assistant Referee 1: Pedro Almeid (POR)
Assistant Referee 2: Pedro Martins (POR)
Fourth Official: Ivan Vučković (CRO)
Referee Observer: Igor Pristovnik (CRO)

Hertha BSC – Paris Saint Germain
Referee: Manuel Schüttengruber (AUT)
Assistant Referee 1: Roland Brandner (AUT)
Assistant Referee 2: Stefan Kühr (AUT)
Fourth Official: Christof Günsch (GER)
Referee Observer: Helmut Fleischer (GER)

PAOK FC – Tottenham Hotspur
Referee: Jérôme Brisard (FRA)
Assistant Referee 1: Benjamin Pages (FRA)
Assistant Referee 2: François Boudikian (FRA)
Referee Observer: Ioánnis Tsachilídis (GRE)

Chelsea FC – AS Monaco
Referee: Vilhjálmur Thorarinsson (ISL)
Assistant Referee 1: Gylfi Sigurdsson (ISL)
Assistant Referee 2: Gylfi Tryggvason (ISL)
Fourth Official: John Busby (ENG)
Referee Observer: Edward Foley (IRL)

Dynamo Kyiv – Juventus
Referee: Jens Maae (DEN)
Assistant Referee 1: Lars Hummelgaard (DEN)
Assistant Referee 2: Jesper Dahl (DEN)
Fourth Official: Mykola Balakin (UKR)
Referee Observer: Volodymyr Petrov (UKR)

FC Midtjylland – AS Roma
Referee: Juri Frischer (EST)
Assistant Referee 1: Veiko Mõtsnik (EST)
Assistant Referee 2: Sander Saga (EST)
Fourth Official: Morten Krogh (DEN)
Referee Observer: Jørn West Larsen (DEN)

Montpellier – Benfica
Referee: Alexandre Boucaut (BEL)
Assistant Referee 1: Laurent Conotte (BEL)
Assistant Referee 2: Jimmy Cremers (BEL)
Fourth Official: Arnaud Baert (FRA)
Referee Observer: David Malcolm (NIR)

Sigma Olomouc – Olympique Lyonnais
Referee: Enea Jorgji (ALB)
Assistant Referee 1: Denis Rexha (ALB)
Assistant Referee 2: Nertil Bregasi (ALB)
Fourth Official: Jan Machálek (CZE)
Referee Observer: Miroslav Tulinger (CZE)

AFC Champions League – Play-offs (Round 2)

19 February 2019

Shandong Luneng – Hanoi FC
Referee: Valentin Kovalenko (UZB, photo)
Assistant Referee 1: Andrey Tsapenko (UZB)
Assistant Referee 2: Timur Gaynullin (UZB)
Fourth Official: Charymurat Kurbanov (TKM)

Kashima Antlers – Newcastle United
Referee: Mohammed Abdulla (UAE)
Assistant Referee 1: Mohamed Al-Hammadi (UAE)
Assistant Referee 2: Hasan Al-Mahri (UAE)
Fourth Official: Umar Al-Ali (UAE)

Sanfrecce Hiroshima – Chiangrai United
Referee: Nawaf Shukrallah (BHR)
Assistant Referee 1: Yaser Tulefat (BHR)
Assistant Referee 2: Mohammad Salman (BHR)
Fourth Official: Ismail Ismail (BHR)

Ulsan Hyundai – Perak
Referee: Abdulrahman Al-Jassim (QAT)
Assistant Referee 1: Talib Al-Marri (QAT)
Assistant Referee 2: Saud Al-Maqallah (QAT)
Fourth Official: Abdullah Al-Marri (QAT)

Al Gharafa – Zobahan FC
Referee: Christopher Beath (AUS)
Assistant Referee 1: Matthew Cream (AUS)
Assistant Referee 2: Anton Shchetinin (AUS)
Fourth Official: Clifford Daypuyat (PHI)

An Nassr – AGMK FC
Referee: Muhammad Bin Jahari (SIN)
Assistant Referee 1: Lee Tzu Liang (SIN)
Assistant Referee 2: Koh Min Kiat (SIN)
Fourth Official: Razlan Joffri Ali (MAS)

Al Rayyan – Saipa
Referee: Ma Ning (CHN)
Assistant Referee 1: Cao Yi (CHN)
Assistant Referee 2: Shi Xiang (CHN)
Fourth Official: Shen Yinhao (CHN)

Al Nasr – Pakhtakor
Referee: Ryuji Sato (JPN)
Assistant Referee 1: Hiroshi Yamauchi (JPN)
Assistant Referee 2: Jun Mihara (JPN)
Fourth Official: Rowan Arumughan (IND)

UEFA Women's Futsal Euro Final 2019: Perona (ITA)

17 February 2019

Spain – Portugal
Referee 1: Chiara Perona (ITA, photo)
Referee 2: Irina Velikanova (RUS)
Third Official: Gelareh Nazemi (IRN)
Timekeeper: Fatma Tursun (TUR)

UEFA Europa League – Round of 32 (First Leg)

12-14 February 2019

Fenerbahçe – Zenit
Referee: Ruddy Buquet (FRA, photo)
Assistant Referee 1: Guillaume Debart (FRA)
Assistant Referee 2: Julien Pacelli (FRA)
Fourth Official: Cyril Mugnier (FRA)
Additional AR 1: Amaury Delerue (FRA)
Additional AR 2: Jerôme Miguelgorry (FRA)
Referee Observer: Manuel Diaz Vega (ESP)

Rapid Wien – Internazionale Milano
Referee: Tobias Stieler (GER)
Assistant Referee 1: Mike Pickel (GER)
Assistant Referee 2: Christian Gittelmann (GER)
Fourth Official: Mark Borsch (GER)
Additional AR 1: Tobias Welz (GER)
Additional AR 2: Christian Dingert (GER)
Referee Observer: Marián Ružbarsky (SVK)

Slavia Praha – KRC Genk
Referee: Andris Treimanis (LVA)
Assistant Referee 1: Haralds Gudermanis (LVA)
Assistant Referee 2: Aleksejs Spasjonņikovs (LVA)
Fourth Official: Raimonds Tatriks (LVA)
Additional AR 1: Aleksandrs Golubevs (LVA)
Additional AR 2: Edgars Maļcevs (LVA)
Referee Observer: Nikolay Levnikov (RUS)

FC Krasnodar – Bayer Leverkusen
Referee: Davide Massa (ITA)
Assistant Referee 1: Alberto Tegoni (ITA)
Assistant Referee 2: Giorgio Peretti (ITA)
Fourth Official: Ciro Carbone (ITA)
Additional AR 1: Michael Fabbri (ITA)
Additional AR 2: Maurizio Mariani (ITA)
Referee Observer: Uno Tutk (EST)

Stade Rennais – Real Betis
Referee: Anastasios Sidiropoulos (GRE)
Assistant Referee 1: Polychronis Kostaras (GRE)
Assistant Referee 2: Lazaros Dimitriadis (GRE)
Fourth Official: Damianos Efthymiadis (GRE)
Additional AR 1: Anastasios Papapetrou (GRE)
Additional AR 2: Ioannis Papadopoulos (GRE)
Referee Observer: Vlado Svilokos (CRO)

Olympiakos FC – Dynamo Kyiv
Referee: Craig Pawson (ENG)
Assistant Referee 1: Lee Betts (ENG)
Assistant Referee 2: Ian Hussin (ENG)
Fourth Official: Edward Smart (ENG)
Additional AR 1: Paul Tierney (ENG)
Additional AR 2: Jonathan Moss (ENG)
Referee Observer: Alfredo Trentalange (ITA)

Lazio – Sevilla
Referee: Slavko Vinčič (SVN)
Assistant Referee 1: Tomaž Klančnik (SVN)
Assistant Referee 2: Andraž Kovačič (SVN)
Fourth Official: Grega Kordež (SVN)
Additional AR 1: Matej Jug (SVN)
Additional AR 2: Nejc Kajtazovič (SVN)
Referee Observer: Stavros Tritsonis (GRE)

Bate Borisov – Arsenal FC
Referee: Srdjan Jovanović (SRB)
Assistant Referee 1: Uroš Stojković (SRB)
Assistant Referee 2: Milan Mihajlović (SRB)
Fourth Official: Dragan Bogićević (SRB)
Additional AR 1: Lazar Lukić (SRB)
Additional AR 2: Zoran Široki (SRB)
Referee Observer: Frank De Bleeckere (BEL)

Galatasaray – Benfica
Referee: Jesus Gil Manzano (ESP)
Assistant Referee 1: Roberto Alonso Fernandez (ESP)
Assistant Referee 2: Diego Barbero Sevilla (ESP)
Fourth Official: Juan Yuste Jimenez (ESP)
Additional AR 1: Ricardo de Burgos Bengoetxea (ESP)
Additional AR 2: Santiago Jaime Latre (ESP)
Referee Observer: Luciano Luci (ITA)

Viktoria Plzeň – GNK Dinamo
Referee: Serdar Gözübüyük (NED)
Assistant Referee 1: Charles Schaap (NED)
Assistant Referee 2: Jan de Vries (NED)
Fourth Official: Davie Goossens (NED)
Additional AR 1: Kevin Blom (NED)
Additional AR 2: Pol van Boekel (NED)
Referee Observer: Leslie Irvine (NIR)

Club Brugge – Red Bull Salzburg
Referee: Georgi Kabakov (BUL)
Assistant Referee 1: Martin Margaritov (BUL)
Assistant Referee 2: Diyan Valkov (BUL)
Fourth Official: Georgi Todorov (BUL)
Additional AR 1: Nikola Popov (BUL)
Additional AR 2: Stanislav Todorov (BUL)
Referee Observer: Matteo Trefoloni (ITA)

FC Zürich – SSC Napoli
Referee: Milorad Mažić (SRB)
Assistant Referee 1: Milovan Ristić (SRB)
Assistant Referee 2: Dalibor Djurdjević (SRB)
Fourth Official: Nemanja Petrović (SRB)
Additional AR 1: Danilo Grujić (SRB)
Additional AR 2: Igor Stojilković (SRB)
Referee Observer: Fredy Fautrel (FRA)

Malmö FF – Chelsea FC
Referee: Aleksei Kulbakov (BLR)
Assistant Referee 1: Dzmitry Žuk (BLR)
Assistant Referee 2: Alieh Maslianka (BLR)
Fourth Official: Jury Chomčanka (BLR)
Additional AR 1: Dzianis Ščarbakov (BLR)
Additional AR 2: Dzmitry Dzmitryeŭ (BLR)
Referee Observer: Darko Čeferin (SVN)

Shakhtar Donetsk – Eintracht Frankfurt
Referee: Anthony Taylor (ENG)
Assistant Referee 1: Gary Beswick (ENG)
Assistant Referee 2: Adam Nunn (ENG)
Fourth Official: Constantine Hatzidakis (ENG)
Additional AR 1: Stuart Attwell (ENG)
Additional AR 2: Martin Atkinson (ENG)
Referee Observer: Ichko Lozev (BUL)

Celtic – Valencia
Referee: Ovidiu Hațegan (ROU)
Assistant Referee 1: Octavian Șovre (ROU)
Assistant Referee 2: Sebastian Gheorghe (ROU)
Fourth Official: Radu Ghinguleac (ROU)
Additional AR 1: Radu Petrescu (ROU)
Additional AR 2: Sebastian Colțescu (ROU)
Referee Observer: Konrad Plautz (AUT)

Sporting – Villarreal
Referee: Clement Turpin (FRA)
Assistant Referee 1: Nicolas Danos (FRA)
Assistant Referee 2: Cyril Gringore (FRA)
Fourth Official: Frédéric Haquette (FRA)
Additional AR 1: Benoît Bastien (FRA)
Additional AR 2: Karim Abed (FRA)
Referee Observer: Gylfi Orrason (ISL)

Women's World Cup referees taking fresh lessons to France 2019

Four months – barely even that – until the FIFA Women’s World Cup France 2019 gets under way. And while the 24 teams who have qualified are eagerly anticipating the tournament, the referees also have plenty to look forward to. "We know that the teams are preparing very intensively, and we referees are no different. We’re going to do everything in our power to put in the best performance we can in France," said German match official Bibiana Steinhaus. Together with 26 fellow referees and 48 assistant referees, Steinhaus has spent the past two weeks in Doha on a FIFA World Cup training camp, which put the participants through their paces as they went through a whole host of theoretical and practical activities from early in the morning until late every evening. "We know that the World Cup is not far off and we can sense the anticipation that comes with it," said Lucila Venegas, a referee from Mexico. "We have a lot of responsibility on our shoulders, but I’m really looking forward to it. It will soon be time to deliver and to realize our dreams. The time has come to take everything we've learned out onto the field."

Since the final whistle blew at the end of the FIFA Women’s World Cup in Canada back in 2015, all attention among referees and officials has been on the next big event, in France. "The men’s and women’s referees are currently focusing on having one common philosophy and maintaining consistency," said Massimo Busacca, Head of the FIFA Refereeing Department. "The women’s referees are in good form. Our priority is now fine-tuning," added Kari Seitz, FIFA’s Senior Manager of Refereeing.

The camp in Doha was a milestone in this respect, with the referees and assistant referees displaying total commitment and a thirst for knowledge in the training sessions, which also included work alongside male video assistant referees (VARs). "VAR training is important to be able to gauge whether the use of VAR at the Women’s World Cup would be worthwhile, and to make a recommendation on its usage to the FIFA Council when they meet in Miami in March," explained Pierluigi Collina, Chairman of FIFA’s Refereeing Committee. "This is fully synchronised with the process that we have followed in the men’s game. We also had a number of seminars and the final decision on it came at a March meeting of the FIFA Council." In Doha, the referees not only had the chance to go into more detail on the use of VAR in training sessions, but also test the technology in actual match conditions. As well as the training sessions, they got to referee the Al Kass International Cup which brings together some of the top U-17 teams in the world and which is currently being held in Doha up until 15 February. "It is great to see how quickly the women’s referees got to grips with the new tool. Working with them went really well," said a highly enthusiastic Tiago Lopes Martins, a video assistant referee from Portugal.

One look at the faces of the referees and assistants confirms this impression. Throughout the camp, they were all ready to work together and work hard. "We talked about how we make our decisions and exchanged experiences," said Yoshimi Yamashita, a referee from Japan. "That’s why seminars like this are so important for me – they help me to constantly improve." The countdown that everyone has been working towards for over three years is nearing its conclusion. Just four months remain now until kick-off at the FIFA Women’s World Cup.

Source: FIFA

UEFA Champions League – Round of 16 (First Leg, I)

12 February 2019
Manchester United – Paris Saint Germain
Referee: Daniele Orsato (ITA, photo)
Assistant Referee 1: Fabiano Preti (ITA)
Assistant Referee 2: Alessandro Costanzo (ITA)
Fourth Official: Daniele Doveri (ITA)
VAR: Massimiliano Irrati (ITA)
AVAR: Marco Guida (ITA)
Referee Observer: Eugen Strigel (GER)

AS Roma – FC Porto
Referee: Danny Makkelie (NED)
Assistant Referee 1: Mario Diks (NED)
Assistant Referee 2: Hessel Steegstra (NED)
Fourth Official: Kevin Blom (NED)
VAR: Pol van Boekel (NED)
AVAR: Jochem Kamphuis (NED) 
Referee Observer: Herbert Fandel (GER)

13 February 2019
Tottenham Hotspur – Borussia Dortmund
Referee: Antonio Mateu Lahoz (ESP)
Assistant Referee 1: Pau Cebrian Devís (ESP)
Assistant Referee 2: Roberto Díaz Perez (ESP)
Fourth Official: Xavier Estrada Fernandez (ESP)
VAR: Alejandro Hernandez Hernandez (ESP)
AVAR: Juan Martínez Munuera (ESP)
Referee Observer: Hans Reijgwart (NED)

AFC Ajax – Real Madrid
Referee: Damir Skomina (SVN)
Assistant Referee 1: Jure Praprotnik (SVN)
Assistant Referee 2: Robert Vukan (SVN)
Fourth Official: Rade Obrenovič (SVN)
VAR: Szymon Marciniak (POL)
AVAR: Pawel Gil (POL)
Referee Observer: Marc Batta (FRA)