August 7 – Two Polish referees were stood down at the 11th hour from Tuesday’s Champions League match between Dynamo Kyiv and Rangers after they were reportedly arrested for drunkenly stealing a road sign.
Bartosz Frankowski and Tomasz Musial were selected to work as the VAR and assistant VAR for the qualifying match, which took place in the Polish city of Lublin since Ukrainian European games have to be played outside the country because of the Russian invasion.
But their names were removed from the UEFA match list following reports in Poland that they were among three “intoxicated” men who had destroyed road infrastructure in the city.
Frankowski and Musial are both referees in the Ekstraklasa, the top division of Polish football, the former regarded as one of Europe’s leading officials who was on VAR duty for Real Madrid’s dramatic Champions League semi-final against Bayern Munich last season.
The Polish FA has vowed to terminate the contracts of both.
“The Polish Football Association’s Referees’ Board will conduct a detailed analysis of the situation following reports of inappropriate conduct by two Ekstraklasa referees who were supposed to be working at the Champions League qualifiers between Dynamo Kyiv and Rangers FC,” the Polish FA said in a statement.
“If the above information is confirmed, the College of Referees will apply to the Secretary General of the federation to terminate the contracts with the referees. The case will also be forwarded to the Disciplinary Commission of the Polish Football Association, which may decide to impose further disciplinary consequences.”
The referees were replaced for Tuesday’s match by countrymen Tomasz Kwiatkowski and Pawel Malec.
A UEFA statement said: “The College of Referees of the Polish FA will carry out a detailed analysis of the situation in connection with reports of improper behaviour of two Ekstraklasa [Poland’s top flight] referees who were supposed to work on the qualifying match between Dynamo Kyiv and Rangers.”
Both officials have since apologised.
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