The referee for the match Ukraine — Belgium has never officiated a match involving the Ukrainian national team, but under him th

As already reported, the main referee for the first match of the Nations League playoffs between the national teams of Ukraine and Belgium for the right to compete in Division “A” of this tournament next season, which will take place tomorrow in Murcia, is Swiss Sandro Scherer.

Sandro Scherer

This 36-year-old referee has been officiating international matches since 2015. He was appointed to the match involving the Ukrainian national team for the first time, but is already familiar with Ukrainian football. Moreover, as part of the current season, Scherer first served as the main referee for the first match of the playoff round of the Champions League qualification between Kyiv’s Dynamo and Austria’s Salzburg (0:2), and then worked at the match of the 7th round of the main stage of the same tournament between Donetsk’s Shakhtar and France’s Brest (2:0).

Statistics of Sandro Scherer’s matches with Ukrainian teams

Season-2016/17. Ukraine (U-17) — Turkey (U-17) — 0:1. Qualification cycle for Euro-2017 (U-17)

Season-2018/19. Vorskla — Karabakh (Azerbaijan) — 0:1. Group stage of the Europa League

Season-2019/20. CSKA (Sofia, Bulgaria) — Zorya — 1:1. Europa League qualification

Season-2021/22. Rapid (Vienna, Austria) — Zorya — 3:0. Europa League qualification.

Season-2024/25. Dynamo — Salzburg (Austria) — 0:2. Champions League qualification.

Season-2024/25. Shakhtar — Brest (France) — 2:0. Main stage of the Champions League.

Scherer can be considered quite a lenient referee: he shows an average of 4 yellow cards per match, and resorts to direct red cards approximately in every 10th match. The Swiss referee awards penalties on average in every third match.