Vassilis Fotias appointed as referee for clash with Salzburg | OneFootball

UEFA announced in a statement released on its official platforms this Tuesday morning the appointment of Vassilis Fotias as the referee for the opening match of the Europa League group stage between Salzburg and FC Porto.

The 36-year-old referee from Pellas will lead an entirely Greek refereeing team: assistants Andreas Meintanas and Michail Papadakis, fourth official Alexandros Tsakalidis, VAR Angelos Evangelou, and AVAR Soren Torks.

Fotias is a relatively unknown name in Portuguese football, having refereed only one match involving Portuguese teams in his career – on August 21, 2024, in the first leg of the play-off for access to the Europa Conference League, where Vitória SC defeated Zrinjski Mostar 3-0.

The Salzburg-FC Porto match is scheduled for 8:00 PM (Portuguese mainland time) next Thursday at the Red Bull Arena in Austria, marking the Portuguese team's debut in international competitions this season. The Austrians reached the competition after being eliminated from the Champions League in the third qualifying round by Club Brugge, with a 2-4 aggregate score.

And what about Sporting de Braga?

Before FC Porto, Sporting de Braga will make its debut in the 2025/26 Europa League edition against Feyenoord at the Estádio Municipal de Braga at 8:00 PM next Wednesday. The match will be officiated by Montenegrin Nikola Dabanovic.

Dabanovic has much more experience with Portuguese teams, having refereed, throughout his career, three Sporting matches, two FC Porto matches, two Vitória SC matches, two Benfica matches (one in senior and another in youth categories), and two matches of the Portuguese national teams (one under-19 and another under-17).

The assistants will be Vladan Todorovic and Srdan Jovanovic, the fourth official Milos Boskovic, the VAR Serbian Momcilo Markovic, and the AVAR French Willy Delajod.

The calendar for the Portuguese representatives

Besides Salzburg, FC Porto will also face Red Star (October 2, at Estádio do Dragão), Nottingham Forest (October 23, at City Ground), Utrecht (November 6, at Stadion Galgenwaard), Nice (November 27, at Estádio do Dragão), Malmo (December 11, at Estádio do Dragão), Viktoria Plzen (January 22, at Doosan Arena), and Rangers (January 29, at Estádio do Dragão).

Sporting de Braga, on the other hand, will play matches against Feyenoord, Celtic (October 2, at Celtic Park), Red Star (October 23, at Estádio Municipal de Braga), Genk (November 6, at Estádio Municipal de Braga), Rangers (November 27, at Ibrox Stadium), Nice (December 11, at Allianz Riviera), Nottingham Forest (January 22, at City Ground), and Go Ahead Eagles (January 29, at De Adelaarshorst).

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.