Daniel Siebert has been appointed as the referee for the Champions League final between Paris Saint-Germain and Arsenal, set to take place at the Puskas Arena in Budapest on Saturday, 30 May.
Who is Daniel Siebert?
The 42-year-old German official has been officiating since 2015 and boasts 11 years of experience. This season alone, he has taken charge of nine Uefa Champions League matches. Siebert is no stranger to Arsenal fans, having refereed two of their games this campaign. He was the man in the middle for the quarter-final first leg against Sporting Lisbon, a match Arsenal won 1-0. He also officiated the semi-final second leg against Atletico Madrid, another 1-0 victory for the Gunners.
Interestingly, Siebert has not shown a single yellow card to an Arsenal player in either of those matches, issuing only three yellow cards overall across both games. He has also refereed one PSG match this season, a goalless draw at Athletic Bilbao in December, where he showed four yellow cards.
Siebert's Statistics
According to Who Scored, Siebert averages 4.44 yellow cards per game in the Champions League this season (from nine games) and 0.22 red cards per game. In the Bundesliga, his averages are lower: 3.20 yellow cards and 0.13 red cards per game from 15 matches.
His experience extends beyond the Champions League. He officiated last year's Uefa Europa League semi-final between Manchester United and Athletic Bilbao and has worked at both Uefa Euro 2024 (two games) and Uefa Euro 2020 (three games).
Arteta Praises Officials
Following Arsenal's victory over West Ham, which featured a controversial VAR decision to disallow an equaliser from Callum Wilson, Mikel Arteta praised the officials. Referee Chris Kavanagh reviewed 17 replays over four minutes and 17 seconds before ruling out the goal due to a foul by Pablo on David Raya.
"When I had to be critical, I have been," Arteta told Sky Sports. "Today I have to congratulate them. You needed a lot of courage and bravery to stand out and give the opportunity to the referee to have a look at the action. When you see the picture, there is no question that it is a clear foul. They were very brave. The action deserved that. In my opinion, it is very clear. They are the rules and we ask for consistency."
Full Officiating Team
- Referee: Daniel Siebert (Germany)
- Assistants: Jan Seidel and Rafael Foltyn (both Germany)
- Fourth Official: Sandro Schärer (Switzerland)
- Reserve Assistant Referee: Guadalupe Porras Ayuso (Spain)
- VAR: Bastian Dankert (Germany)
- Assistant VAR: Robert Schröder (Germany)
- VAR Support: Carlos Del Cerro Grande (Spain)
