Euro 2024 referees: Full guide and verdict on each, including English officials

English referees Michael Oliver and Anthony Taylor form part of a group of 19 officials who are taking charge of the 51 Euro 2024 fixtures in Germany.

Oliver’s assistants will be Stuart Burt and Dan Cook, while Taylor is aided by Gary Beswick and Adam Nunn.

Adding to the English contingent, Stuart Attwell and David Coote have been picked in the 20-strong pool of video assistant referees (VAR).

As at Euro 2020, there is a referee from South America officiating at Euro 2024 as part of the ‘co-operation between Uefa and the South American Football Confederation (Conmebol)’. Argentina’s Facundo Tello has been handed the honour and will be assisted by fellow countrymen Gabriel Chade and Ezequiel Brailovsky.

Euro 2024: the ultimate referee guide

Uefa have pulled together an impressive list of experienced referees to take charge of the Euros under its Managing Director of Refereeing Roberto Rosetti.

These officials will have been involved in regular training meetings to ensure consistency in delivering decisions.

For example, Rosetti has already stated that only the captain of the team will be allowed to speak to the referee. Any other player approaching and surrounding the referee protesting a decision will receive a yellow card. If a goalkeeper is the team captain, then an outfield player will be designated to take on this role.

Looking at this group they represent the very best of Uefa referees. All of them are very fit and mobile on the field of play. They all tend to be strict enforcers of the laws with a low tolerance level on dissent.

Here is my guide to the referees that will be taking charge.

Michael Oliver (England)

Assistants: Stuart Burt, Dan Cook

Oliver is an outstanding official with his biggest appointments to date include the 2021 FA Cup final and refereeing at the 2022 World Cup. He reads the game very well and quickly gains the respect of players with his calm and confident approach. Oliver will expect to get a semi-final, or even a final if England are knocked out before then.

Anthony Taylor (England)

Assistants: Gary Beswick, Adam Nunn

Taylor was promoted to the Fifa list in 2013 and has officiated all the top games in England. In 2021, Taylor officiated the Euro 2020 match between Finland and Denmark in which Christian Eriksen collapsed on the pitch and required emergency treatment.

Taylor was praised for his calm but quick reaction to the situation, signalling for medical attention within seconds. If Taylor delivers quality performances during the tournament, and England fail to reach the final, then he may well be appointed to take charge of the biggest game of them all.

Francois Letexier (France)

Assistants: Cyril Mugnier, Mehdi Rahmouni

An experienced official who was appointed to the Fifa referee panel in 2017. There are times in games where his decision making could be quicker. His involvement in this tournament will certainly help his experience and build his reputation in his quest to be appointed to the next World Cup.

Clement Turpin (France)

Assistants: Nicolas Danos, Benjamin Pages

A very experienced official, who took charge of the 2021 Europa League final and the Champions League final Liverpool v Real Madrid the following year. Turpin is a physical education teacher by profession and regarded highly by Uefa for his movement and positioning on the field of play.

Like many of his colleagues selected for this tournament, he is a strict enforcer of the law and does tend to pull out the yellow card very early in the game opening up the risk to players of a double yellow followed by a red.

Daniel Siebert (Germany)

Assistants: Jan Seidel, Rafael Foltyn

Fifa referee since 2015 and infamously was in charge during the match between Manchester City and Atletico Madrid where he lost control with a number of unsavoury incidents taking place.

Felix Zwayer (Germany)

Assistants: Stefan Lupp, Marco Achmuller

If Zwayer is appointed to officiate England, then Jude Bellingham will certainly want to keep on the right side of this referee after he was fined for his post match comments about Zwayer while playing for Dortmund.

Marco Guida (Italy)

Assistants: Filippo Meli, Giorgio Peretti

Guida is a top referee who has officiated many Champions League games. However, he gained some unwanted notoriety when he blew his whistle for half-time in Manchester United’s Champions League clash with FC Copenhagen at Old Trafford before the clock had struck the 45th minute.

Daniele Orsato (Italy)

Assistants: Ciro Carbone, Alessandro Giallatini

This will be Orsato’s last tournament before retiring. He is a very experienced International Referee appointed to the Fifa International list in 2010. Orsato refereed the World Cup semi-final between Argentina and Croatia and received criticism from Luca Modric for his performance.

He also officiated the 2020 Champions League final between PSG and Bayern Munich.

Danny Makkelie (Netherlands)

Assistants: Hessel Steegstra, Jan de Vries

He was promoted to the Fifa in 2011 and is one of the most experienced officials at this tournament. His list of honours games is impressive and he is one of the favourites to officiate the final. Makkelie is another very fit referee who oozes confidence that sometimes might even give the impression of arrogance.

Szymon Marciniak (Poland)

Assistants: Tomasz Listkiewicz, Adam Kupsik

Marciniak is considered one of the best referees of his generation. He refereed the 2022 World Cup final between Argentina and France, the 2018 Super Cup between Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid and the 2023 Champions League final.

Artur Soares Dias (Portugal)

Assistants: Paulo Soares, Pedro Ribiero

Dias is a very experienced international referee, having been promoted to Fifa and Uefa in 2010. He likes to keep the game flowing and to take some risks by applying tight advantages.

Regarded highly in his own country, he operates with confidence and is a good communicator.

Istvan Kovacs (Romania)

Assistants: Vasile Florin Marinescu, Mihai Ovidiu Artene

Kovacs has been a full international for Fifa since 2018 and a Uefa elite referee since 2019. He officiated the 2022 FIFA Club World Cup Semi Final Flamengo v Al Hilal and, in May, was selected to officiate the Europa League Final between Atalanta and Bayer Leverkusen. Kovacs is a PE teacher and pairs his excellent level of fitness with good movement and game reading.

Ivan Kruzliak (Slovakia)

Assistants: Branislav Hancko, Jan Pozor

He came to prominence in the refereeing world when he was appointed to a World Cup Qualifier at Wembley between England and Moldova in 2014, a game that the home side won 4-0.  In 2021, The Referees Committee of the Slovak Football Association decided to punish Kruzliak with a six week suspension surrounding the non-award of a penalty kick in a domestic league game.

Slavko Vincic (Slovenia)

Assistants: Tomaz Klancnik, Andraz Kovacic

Promoted to Fifa in 2010 and recently officiated his biggest game to date the recent Champions League final Borussia Dortmund v Real Madrid. He is a referee who operates a strict enforcement of the laws of the game with a good detection and decision making of foul challenges.

Jesus Gil Manzano (Spain)

Assistants: Diego Barbero Sevilla, Angel Nevado Rodriguez

At the age of 29, Manzano was the youngest Spanish official to become a Fifa referee in 2014 and has already officiated many top games in Europe.

He gained fame across the world when he dismissed Lionel Messi in the Spanish Super Cup Final, and has a reputation as a strict enforcer of the law with a consistent recognition of fouls. He is quick to issue yellow cards so players need to take care when making challenges.

Glenn Nyberg (Sweden)

Assistants: Mahbod Beigi, Andreas Soderkvist 

Nyberg was promoted to the Fifa list in 2016 and to date his biggest appointment was to officiate the 2023 U20 World Cup Final between Uruguay v Italy. He will also officiate at the Olympic Games in France. He was the referee who apologised to Arsenal after their game with Bayern Munich after failing to award a penalty kick.

Sandro Scharer (Switzerland)

Assistants: Stephane de Almeida, Bekim Zogaj

One of the least experienced referees that has been selected for this tournament. I suspect that his appointments in this tournament might well be confined to more fourth official roles than in the middle.

Halil Umut Meler (Turkey)

Assistants: Mustafa Emre Eyisoy, Kerem Ersoy

Meler was the referee who was attacked after officiating a Super Lig match between MKE Ankaragucu and Caykur Rizespor, which saw him hospitalised.

This incident led to a week-long suspension of all Turkish League Football. Meler is a strict enforcer of the law and demonstrates courage when he is officiating.

Full list of Euro 2024 VARs

• Stuart Attwell (England)

• David Coote (England)

• Jerome Brisard (France)

• Willy Delajod (France)

• Bastian Dankert (Germany)

• Christian Dingert (Germany)

• Marco Fritz (Germany)

• Massimiliano Irrati (Italy)

• Paolo Valeri (Italy)

• Rob Dieperink (Netherlands)

• Pol van Boekel (Netherlands)

• Bartosz Frankowski (Poland)

• Tomasz Kwiatkowski (Poland)

• Tiago Martins (Portugal)

• Catalin Popa (Romania)

• Nejc Kajtazovic (Slovenia)

• Alejandro Jose Hernandez Hernandez (Spain)

• Juan Martinez Munuera (Spain)

• Fedayi San (Switzerland)

• Alper Ulusoy (Turkey)

Full list of Euro 2024 support match officials*

* a support match official acts as fourth official or reserve assistant referee

• Irfan Peljto (Bosnia and Herzogovina)

• Senad Ibrisimbegovic (Bosnia and Herzogovina)

• Donatas Rumsas (Lithuania)

• Aleksandr Radius (Lithuania)

• Serdar Gozubuyuk (Netherlands)

• Johan Balder (Netherlands)

• Espen Eskas (Norway)

• Jan Erik Engan (Norway)

• Rade Obrenovic (Sweden)

• Jure Praprotnik (Sweden)

• Mykola Balakin (Ukraine)

• Oleksandr Berkut (Ukraine)

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