As previously reported, UEFA has named the refereeing team for the Euro 2024 qualifying match between Ukraine and England, which will be held next Saturday, 9 September, in Wroclaw, Poland. All referees represent Bulgaria, and the chief referee of the meeting will be Georgi Kabakov.
The 37-year-old Kabakov has been officiating matches in Bulgaria's elite division since 2007, and he became a FIFA referee in 2013.
Kabakov has not yet officiated any matches involving the Ukraine national team or England, but he is familiar with Ukrainian football. In the 2020/21 season, the Bulgarian worked as the chief referee for the Champions League group stage match between Shakhtar Donetsk and Italian Inter (0-0).
Last time Kabakov was appointed by UEFA for the current Europa League qualification match between Slovenian Olimpija and Azerbaijani Karabakh (5 yellow cards, one red).
In total, Kabakov has 85 international matches under his belt, including 6 - within the qualifying cycles of the World and European Championships.
We should add that Kabakov is a rather strict referee: he shows an average of five yellow cards per match, and suspends players - in every third game. And the Bulgarian awards penalties in about every fourth match under his management.