BERLIN: French referee François Letexier was picked by UEFA to handle the European Championship final between Spain and England.
At 35, he’s one of the youngest referees to take charge of a major final. The game is on Sunday at the Olympiastadion in Berlin.
The referees for the past three men’s Euros finals were 48, 41 and 41 at the time.
Letexier has refereed three games at Euro 2024 including Spain’s 4-1 win over Georgia in the round of 16.
In those games, he did not award a penalty kick and did not send off any player. He showed just 10 yellow cards, including one for Serbia forward Aleksandar Mitrovic, who was judged to have dived in the penalty area in a 0-0 draw against Denmark.
There was no video review controversy in any of Letexier’s games, including the 2-2 draw between Albania and Croatia.
The VAR specialist for the final is also French, Jérôme Brisard.
Letexier rarely shows red cards, with just one in the nine games he handled in the Champions League or Europa League last season from the group stage onward. That was to Bayern Munich’s French defender Dayot Upamecano.
His previous highest profile games for UEFA this season include Real Madrid and Manchester City drawing 3-3 in the Champions League quarterfinals, Bayer Leverkusen winning at Roma 2-0 in the Europa League semifinals, and the season-opening Super Cup last August between Man City and Sevilla.
Letexier joined the FIFA list of referees for international games seven years ago.
The fourth official for the final will be Szymon Marciniak of Poland, the referee at the 2022 World Cup final and 2023 Champions League final who had a controversial season.
Marciniak and his match officials team made consequential stoppage-time decisions in Champions League games between Bayern and Real Madrid in the semifinals and Paris Saint-Germain and Newcastle in the group stage.
French referee François Letexier picked to handle Spain-England final of Euro 2024
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French referee François Letexier picked to handle Spain-England final of Euro 2024
- Letexier has refereed three games at Euro 2024 including Spain’s 4-1 win over Georgia in the round of 16
- There was no video review controversy in any of Letexier’s games, including the 2-2 draw between Albania and Croatia
Cherki pulls out Haaland celebrations after wonder goal in Man City’s win in the English League Cup
- The France playmaker pulled out some robot moves and then sat down cross-legged in a yoga pose
- Savinho added a second goal for City in the 67th minute
MANCHESTER: Rayan Cherki recreated teammate Erling Haaland’s goal celebrations after curling an exquisite shot into the top corner in Manchester City’s 2-0 win over Brentford in the English League Cup quarterfinals on Wednesday.
The France playmaker pulled out some robot moves and then sat down cross-legged in a yoga pose after giving a much-changed City team a 32nd-minute lead.
With his tricks, skills and wonderful technique, Cherki is already proving a fans’ favorite in his first season in Manchester after moving from Lyon.
In a win over Sunderland this month, he produced a “rabona” cross that was headed in by Phil Foden but left City manager Pep Guardiola urging Cherki to play with “simplicity” like Lionel Messi.
The goal against Brentford was one Messi would have been proud of. Collecting a headed clearance at the edge of the box, Cherki deceived an opponent by switching the ball to his right foot and then whipped a shot into the top corner.
Savinho added a second goal for City in the 67th minute with a shot that was aided by a huge deflection that looped over Brentford goalkeeper Hákon Valdimarsson.
Haaland was named as a substitute for the game, didn’t come on, and was seen shaking the hand of Cherki when the midfielder was replaced in the second half.
City joined Chelsea, which beat third-tier Cardiff City 3-1 on Tuesday, in the semifinals.
Defending champion Newcastle were playing Fulham in a later kickoff on Wednesday. The quarterfinals are wrapped up next week when Arsenal host Crystal Palace.
