Del Cerro and Mateu chosen to whistle in the Eurocup

UEFA has announced which referees will be in charge of whistling the matches for the next European Championship, which will begin in mid-June. Among those chosen there are two Spaniards. They are the Madrid braid Del Cerro Grande and the Valencian Mateu Lahoz.

Spain is one of the countries with the highest arbitration representation. It has Mateu Lahoz and Del Cerro Grande, two highly prestigious and internationally recognized referees. Mateu, in addition, is one of the candidates for the Champions League final if no Spaniard arrives. The Del Cerro team will be attended by his assistants Yuste Jiménez and Alonso Fernández; and in that of Mateu, Cebrián Devis and Díaz Pérez del Palomar. The rest of the braids in the European Championship are: Felix Brych and Siebert (Germany), Bjorn Kuipers and Danny Makkelie (Holland), Ovidiu Alin Hategan and Istvan Kovacs (Romania); Anthony Taylor and Michael Oliver (England); Daniele Orsato (Italy); Clément Turpin (France); Cüneyt Çakır (Turkey), Andreas Ekberg (Sweden), Orel Grinfeeld (Israel), Sergei Karasev (Russia), Artur Manuel Ribeiro Soares Dias (Portugal) and Slavko Vinčić (Slovenia).

As a novelty and following an agreement between UEFA and CONMEBOL, there will be a South American referee in the Eurocup and a European in the Copa América in Argentina and Colombia. The arbitration team of Argentine Fernando Rapallini will be the representative of CONMEBOL; while Spanish Gil Manzano will be the European in the Copa América. It will be accompanied by De Burgos Bengoetxea and Munuera Montero, as VAR referees, and Barbero Sevilla and Nevado Rodríguez, as assistants. highlights the presence of the French referee Stephanie Frappart. She will be the first woman in a European Championship, although she has been selected as the fourth support referee and not the main one.

“The exchange of referees with CONMEBOL for our two flagship tournaments will enrich both competitions and enhance the experience of the best referees,” said UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin. “Europe and South America have a lot of footballing quality and tradition, also in refereeing. This exchange is a defining part of our cooperation program, which will help us improve our competitions,” he added.

Three Spaniards will go from VAR: Hernández Hernández, Martínez Munuer and Sánchez Martínez. Prieto López de Cerain will be AVAR. Spain, along with Germany and Italy, is the country that contributes the most VAR referees to the Eurocup. All the referees of the Eurocup will have to pass a seminar that will be held in Turkey from May 10 to 13.