Olimpija will host Galatasaray in a packed Stožice stadium, where a Swede will have the main say: the match in Ljubljana will be officiated by… a policeman!
Andreas Ekberg, a 38-year-old football referee from Sweden, is the referee that
European Football Association
(UEFA) has chosen to administer justice at Tuesday’s spectacle in Stožice. The biggest stadium in Slovenia will host the star-studded line-up of Turkish giants Galatasaray,
Olimpija
will try to continue its European fairytale no matter what. The Dragons have already clinched at least the group stage of the conference league, but they refuse to accept the consolation prize. Against Galatasaray, the Ljubljana club is also predicting a winnable game, and Andreas Ekberg will – as we said – make sure that everything goes according to the rules on the pitch.
The Malmö referee, who is also a police officer, has been on the FIFA badge list for the last 10 years. He has been playing in the Swedish top flight since 2009 and has accumulated almost 200 games in the Allsvenskan league. It is interesting to note that he started officiating at a very early age, refereeing his first matches when he was just 13.
Among other things, he can boast that in the past he has also shared the right in some of the matches played for the trophy. In 2018, he was the headliner in the Youth Champions League final, and last year in the Swedish Cup final. He also shared the right in the final match of the 2014 European Under-17 Championship, when England beat the Netherlands on 11 penalty kicks.
Andreas Ekberg is already familiar with Slovenian football. In 2021, he refereed the national team, which lost a surprising defeat at the Cyprus (0:1), the same year he was on the pitch when Mura drew with Zalgiris (0:0) in the Europa League qualifiers, and he was also a referee for the U19 team when they lost to Switzerland (1:3) in 2013.
This text was automatically translated using AI.
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