Europa League Referees, February 27
Here are the referees for the Europa League Round of 32 matches to be played February 27.
I think the biggest surprise for me is Bjorn Kuipers. The highly-rated Dutchman has been flying high in international competition of late. (Dutchman…flying… See what I did there?) He made the list of World Cup referees and refereed the final of this competition last season. As highly rated as he is, I was expecting him more for Champions League than Europa.
Michael Oliver of England (above) continues his rise up the ranks with this appointment. He really does appear to be the new hotness, and heir apparent to Howard Webb and Mark Clattenburg.
- Michael Oliver (ENG) – Rubin Kazan v. Real Betis
- Ovidiu Alin Hategan (ROU) – Napoli v. Swansea
- Pol van Boekel (NED) – Shakhtar Donetsk v. Viktoria Plzen
- Bjorn Kuipers (NED) – Eintracht Frankfurt v. Porto
- Luca Banti (ITA) – Sevilla v. Maribor
- Paolo Tagliavento (ITA) – Salzburg v. Ajax
- Olegario Benquerenca (POR) – Ludogorets v. Lazio
- Ivan Bebek (CRO) – Basel v. Maccabi Tel-Aviv
- Deniz Aytekin (GER) – Valencia v. Dynamo Kiev
- Antony Gautier (FRA) – Tottenham v. Dnipro
- Manuel Grafe (GER) – Genk v. Anji
- Pavel Kralovec (CZE) – Trabzonspor v. Juventus
- Aleksandar Stavrev (MKD) – Olympique Lyon v. Chornomorets Odessa
- Szymon Marciniak (POL) – Benfica v. PAOK
- Serhiy Boiko (UKR) – AZ Alkmaar v. Slovan Liberec
- Marijo Strajonja (CRO) – Fiorentina v. Esbjerg
PLAY THE ADVANTAGE 
To be fair Benquerenca & Kralovec are on the Elite list as well but I guess Kuipers is a high profile name on Europa. Perhaps to give him some appointment is better than nothing? Thoughts?
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True, but he’s on the list of World Cup referees, not just Elite. And he’s been, like, Mr. Big lately with FIFA and UEFA. Not that there’s anything wrong with Europa, but I was just a little surprised to see Rocchi and Collum in CL, and Kuipers in Europa. (That said, Rocchi ran that match like a BOSS today.)
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What’s your opinion on Pol van Boekel for the Shakhtar game? I gotta know if my guys have got a good ref!
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I’m actually getting conflicting news on Van Boekel. Someone on the Dutch side said he’s been out for surgery so they were surprised to see him on the list. Trying to figure out if that was a mistake. In any event,he doesn’t seem to get many call ups. He only had one World Cup qualifier (Moldova and England) and he hasn’t gotten past this stage in Europa. I’ll keep digging to see what I can find.
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Here are van Boekel’s stats
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