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Polish VAR officials dismissed for Champions League tie for stealing road sign when drunk

sam dean
·2-min read
A highliner performs on the slackline during the Urban Highline Festival in Lublin's Old Town on July 26, 2024. As the oldest festival of its kind in Europe and one of the largest in the world, it has attracted thousands of participants from over 70 countries since its inception in 2009.
A highliner performs on the slackline during the Urban Highline Festival in Lublin's Old Town on July 26, 2024. As the oldest festival of its kind in Europe and one of the largest in the world, it has attracted thousands of participants from over 70 countries since its inception in 2009.

Two Polish referees have been stood down from Tuesday’s Champions League match between Rangers and Dynamo Kyiv after they were reportedly arrested for drunkenly stealing a road sign.

Bartosz Frankowski and Tomasz Musial were selected to work as the VAR and assistant VAR for the qualifying match, which is taking place in the Polish city of Lublin on Tuesday night.

But their names no longer appear on the Uefa match list following reports in Poland that they were among three “intoxicated” men who had destroyed road infrastructure in the city.

“At around 1.40 a.m. we received a report of three men carrying a road sign down the street,” Senior Superintendent Kamil Gołębiowski, press officer of the Lublin City Police Headquarters, told TVP Sport.

“Police officers were dispatched to the scene. All of the men were intoxicated and had over 1.5 per mille of alcohol in their blood. They were taken to a sobering-up centre.”

The Polish Football Association has vowed to terminate the contracts of the two officials if the reports in the Polish media are confirmed to be true. Frankowski and Musial are both referees in the Ekstraklasa, the top division of Polish football.

“The Polish Football Association’s Referees’ Board will conduct a detailed analysis of the situation following reports of inappropriate conduct by two Ekstraklasa referees who were supposed to be working at the Champions League qualifiers between Dynamo Kyiv and Rangers FC,” the Polish FA said in a statement.

“If the above information is confirmed, the College of Referees will apply to the Secretary General of the federation to terminate the contracts with the referees. The case will also be forwarded to the Disciplinary Commission of the Polish Football Association, which may decide to impose further disciplinary consequences.”

The referees have been replaced for Tuesday’s match by countrymen Tomasz Kwiatkowski and Pawel Malec.

Frankowski is regarded as one of the leading referees in Poland and was on VAR duty for Real Madrid’s dramatic Champions League semi-final against Bayern Munich last season.