UEFA has named the refereeing team for the Euro 2024 qualifying match between Italy and Ukraine, which will take place next Tuesday, 12 September, in Milan. All referees represent Spain.
Alejandro Hernandez, 40, will be the chief referee of the meeting. He became a FIFA referee in 2013.
Hernandez has not yet officiated matches involving the national team of Ukraine, but he is familiar with Ukrainian football. In the season-2017/18, the Spaniard worked as the chief referee at the match of the qualifying cycle of the European Youth Championship Ukraine (U-19) - Romania (U-19), which ended in a 2:1 victory for the Blue-Yellows. A season earlier Hernandez refereed youth teams of Ajax Amsterdam and Dynamo Kyiv (3-0) and in the UEFA Youth League.
Last time Hernandez was appointed by UEFA for the current Europa League qualification match between Azerbaijan's Karabakh and Slovenia's Olimpija (1:1). In this meeting, the Spaniard showed 9 yellow cards and also awarded a penalty.
In total, Hernandez has 49 international matches under his belt, including 6 within the qualifying cycles of the World and European Championships.
Hernandez is a strict referee: he shows an average of six yellow cards per match, and removes players - almost every third game. Well, the Spaniard awards penalties in about every fourth match under his leadership.
We would like to add that Jose Naranjo and Diego Sanchez Rojo will be the linesmen in the Italy vs Ukraine match.