In the group stage match of the 2023/2024 Champions League in Group D between «Real Sociedad» (Spain) and «Salzburg» (Austria), which will take place on November 29 in San Sebastián, a Ukrainian refereeing team will officiate. This is reported by the UEFA website.

The main referee will be Mykola Balkin. He will be assisted on the lines by Oleksandr Berkuṭ and Dmytro Zaporożenko. The fourth official duties will be carried out by Jarosław Kozik.

It is worth noting that this marks the first time Ukrainian referees have officiated a group stage match of the Champions League since September 16, 1998. At that time, in Bilbao, between Spanish «Athletic» and Norwegian «Rosenborg», the main referee was Simferopol resident Vasyl Melnychuk, who now works as a UEFA Refereeing Observer.

We remind you that recently, the UEFA Referees Committee entrusted the Ukrainian refereeing team with the central match of the Europa League round between «Olympique» and «Brighton», where the observer was the head of the UEFA Referees Committee Roberto Rosetti. According to his report, our referees received a high rating. This means that there is trust in our referees at the European level, which will give them an opportunity to officiate not only in Champions League matches but also in other prestigious tournaments under the auspices of UEFA and FIFA.