Experienced Polish referee Paweł Raczkowski to officiate Real Sociedad v Bournemouth | OneFootball

Paweł Raczkowski has been appointed to take charge of Real Sociedad v Bournemouth at Anoeta on Thursday at 21:00, the Basque side’s Europa League opener.

According to Diario Vasco, the 43-year-old has overseen 368 Ekstraklasa matches. He has been a professional since 2010 and an international since 2013.

His UEFA record includes 22 Europa League games, 5 in the Champions League and 9 in the Conference. His crew features assistants Marcin Boniek and Adam Kupsik, fourth official Patryk Gryckiewicz, a Polish VAR and France’s Bastien Dechepy as assistant VAR.

He had gone three seasons without a European assignment, aside from stepping up at Anfield last March when Szymon Marciniak was injured in the warm-up. After Liverpool’s 4-0 win over Galatasaray, Okan Buruk called him among the worst referees in the world, citing a first-half Liverpool penalty.

He has not refereed Real Sociedad. He has handled Villarreal, Celta, Granada and Athletic, including Athletic’s 0-2 win over Partizan in 2015/16 and a 2016/17 loss to Sassuolo.

He was also caught up in the so-called Athens flight scandal three years ago, when he and his team were stood down before AEK v Aris after local media alleged drunken behaviour on the plane. The officials denied this, saying a Panathinaikos fan had assaulted and spat at Raczkowski.

As this is Bournemouth’s first ever European fixture, it will also be Raczkowski’s first time officiating the Cherries.

Source: Diario Vasco

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