Who is Conference League final referee Irfan Peljto?
IRFAN Peljto is an elite football referee who was the very first Bosnian referee to officiate a UEFA game.
He will be officiating at the Uefa Conference League final on May 28, 2025, despite
3
Irfan Peljto is an accomplished football referee
Credit: Getty
3
The star faced a ban after making a series of mistakes during a match
Credit: Reuters
Breaking a record
Born on July 18, 1984, in
He has been on the FIFA list since 2015 and is categorised as a UEFA elite referee.
The star has broken an incredible football record too.
He is the first Bosnian referee to oversee a UEFA Champions League group stage or knockout phase match - having officiated a match between Beşiktaş and Ajax in 2021.
Read More on football
Irfan's shocking ban
However, Irfan has proven to be controversial - having been
His ban came after he made three major mistakes during
Irfan failed to
The statement read: "In the 25th minute, the referee, although very well positioned and with a clear view of the incident, failed to recognise an obvious foul and award a penalty kick to FK Borac.
Most read in Football
"In the 26th minute, the referee, although well positioned, failed to award a direct free kick for the away team after a clear foul which led to a goal for the home team.
"In the 90th+5 minute, the referee failed to award a clear penalty kick for Zrinjski too."
Refereeing the UEFA Conference League final
Irfan Peljto will be acting as the referee at the 2025
'I can't see anything' - Chelsea fans moan as live TNT Sports coverage of Conference League clash is ruined by smoke
Ahead of the game, Irfan said: "We are living a dream. To receive the call was very emotional. It's an honour not only for my career, but to bring the flag of my small country under the European spotlight is a very proud moment.
"I hope it is also a moment for the future of referees in Bosnia and Herzegovina, that young referees have this positive perspective on refereeing, and that we have created a path for them."
Chelsea have previously won two Champions League titles, two Europa Leagues and two European Cup Winners' Cups - meaning that this is the club's final European honour to win.
Fans can watch the game live when it airs at 8pm on TNT Sports.
3
Irfan revealed that it was 'very emotional' to be selected as the UEFA Conference Final referee
Credit: Getty Images
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Irish Sun
3 hours ago
- The Irish Sun
Chelsea in shock transfer talks with AC Milan keeper Mike Maignan whose stats shows up Robert Sanchez
CHELSEA are in talks with AC Milan to sign goalkeeper Mike Maignan. The France star, 29, has only a year left on his contract in Italy, with both parties yet to agree on fresh terms. 1 Chelsea want to sign Mike Maignan Credit: Getty And the Blues have been alerted by Maignan's failure to pen an extension at the San Siro, where Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca believes the £34million-rated stopper is an ideal option for his possession-based attack. The Stamford Bridge outfit already have five keepers on their books — Robert Sanchez, Filip Jorgensen, Djordje Petrovic, Mike Penders and But Maignan's potential arrival would see him challenge for the No 1 jersey in another shake-up to the goalkeeping department. READ MORE IN FOOTBALL Chelsea fans have been calling for a new No 1, with both Sanchez and Jorgensen failing to prove they should be the main man between the sticks. French Guiana-born Maignan helped Lille to the French title in 2021. He won Serie A with Milan a year later. Maignan has amassed a total of 163 appearances for the Italian club and made four errors leading to goals last season, comparing to Sanchez's five. Most read in Football BEST FREE BETS AND BETTING SIGN UP OFFERS Join SUN CLUB for the Chelsea Files every Tuesday plus in-depth coverage and exclusives from Stamford Bridge But AC Milan could cash in now amid fears he could leave the club on a free transfer in 2026. Maignan has played 30 times for France and was named in the Euro 2024 team of the tournament. Jadon Sancho shares his Chelsea highlights reel as he says goodbye to fans ahead of Man Utd return Maresca's Chelsea are set to make Liam Delap their first summer signing. The Blues will pay his £30million release clause at relegated Ipswich, who he joined last summer from Chelsea will also welcome youngsters Estevao Willian, Kendry Paez and Dario Essugo to the club. One player leaving the club is Chelsea paid And the winger, 25, posted on Instagram: 'Grateful for the experience. Big love to everyone at Chelsea who made me feel at home — teammates, staff and the fans. 'Wishing the club all the best moving forward. Truly grateful. Thank you Blues.'
The Irish Sun
4 hours ago
- The Irish Sun
Chelsea pair were ‘Mr. and Mrs' and ‘drove each other mad' in rows over moisturising cream but arguments HELPED squad
CHELSEA need brotherhood, shower gel and plenty of moisturising cream to get back to the summit of football. Legendary Blues midfielder John Obi Mikel believes dressing room chemistry is the key to success on the pitch. And he can see it brewing in the current squad. 4 Chelsea legends John Obi Mikel and Salomon Kalou had a funny feud 4 Mikel and Kalou's friendly feud created morale in Chelsea's dressing room 4 Mikel insists the current Chelsea team need a similar dressing room 4 Kalou and Mikel had some hilarious exchanges He was part of the all-conquering But small details are behind big wins and Mikel revealed how his bizarre relationship with Together they won the Champions League, Premier League and four FA Cups when team spirit was the fear factor which often made the difference in key games. Mikel, 38, said: 'It is very important, the friendship between your teammates in the squad, because It brings you guys together. Read More on Chelsea 'The chemistry is there, not just the chemistry on the pitch, the chemistry outside the pitch because you already know your partner, your team-mates. 'You know what they like and what they don't like. How to approach them in terms of when they're not performing, 'How do you get them to wake up? Do you go to them? Do you scream at them, or is it like a quiet word you need to have and get them to keep going? 'So that relationship is very important. And of course, Salomon Kalou, what can I say about the guy? Most read in Football Join SUN CLUB for the Chelsea Files every Tuesday plus in-depth coverage and exclusives from Stamford Bridge 'Listen, we were Mr and Mrs at the football club, we were called Tom and Jerry. 'He drives me mad, a guy I absolutely love. I can never say a bad word about Salomon Kalou. Here is why Liam Delap is the perfect striker for Chelsea 'He never bought his own shower gel, his own cream, he always went to my locker and nicked mine. 'I'd finish having a shower and I go to my locker trying to get my cream, it's not there. Salomon Kalou's nicked it. 'Sometimes it's fine to use it, but please, return it to my locker. He didn't. 'And when I go to him and ask where's my cream? He says, 'buy another one'. I'm like, 'what? Why don't you buy yourself your own cream?' 'He just drove me mad. But then on the pitch, when you're that honest and open with each other, on the pitch, you know each other so well, right and it helps so much. 'I'd love to see the players create that friendship, that chemistry between each other. Looking at this team squad, They're young but I can see a little bit that they have that. Chelsea's legendary parties 'I need to see a bit more. It's so important to create that atmosphere.' Where Mikel won, lost and Mikel said: 'We enjoyed good times together. We went out to central London every time we won a trophy. We celebrated quite heavily because we were successful and were given a licence to go out and enjoy ourselves. 'That brought that chemistry together because every year, every other year, we had something to celebrate. We were always winning something. So we were always having a massive party come the end of the season. That brought us together. 'They have to win trophies in order to be able to bring that chemistry in the squad.' New Chelsea have started the process by qualifying for the Champions League and winning the Conference League. Club World Cup opportunities But the post-match party was tame by previous standards, mainly because a lot of the players are now on international duty before travelling to next week's Club World Cup. The month-long tournament in the US Club World Cup railroads through the traditional summer. Mikel said: 'It's silverware to be won and we want to go out and compete to win it. 'We have to talk about the prize money as well. Almost £100million. That puts you in a great advantage in terms of in the summer, transfer window, bringing in players, strengthening your squad. There's a lot there for these players to think about. 'I know we players talk about having a rest, which we should. But we actually don't rest when we go on holidays. 'We fly back to our different continents where we're from, countries where we're from. 'And then we go back after a week or a few days, playing locally with the local teams where we grew up from, kicking the ball about, playing five-a-side, ten-a-side games. 'You don't want to rest for two, three weeks without doing anything. When you come back for pre-season, it takes you even longer to get in shape. 'During the summer, you're looking at yourself thinking, I need to get back into it. You start running, you start playing football and make sure you come back, so that it doesn't take you a long time to get back into shape. We all did that. I get it, I understand. 'The Club World Cup, for the teams involved, it's a great opportunity, a great way for those teams to keep their players fit, keep them ticking over, knowing that when the season starts, they are almost half there.' John Obi Mikel was speaking ahead of the upcoming FIFA Club World Cup 2025. Watch all 63 games live on
Irish Examiner
4 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
'We need a Carla Ward team on the ball and an Irish mentality off it' says Ireland WNT boss
Uefa Women's Nations League B2 IRELAND 1 (Saoirse Noonan 19) SLOVENIA 0 Play-offs hold fond memories for Irish women's football. Attention between the generation led by Emma Byrne losing their Euro one in 2008 until Hampden Park in 2022 offered a generational breakthrough. Amber Barrett and her big toe will be forever renowned for slaying the Scots to end a qualification famine and begin the journey to Australia. Ireland's route to the next World Cup, the 2027 version in Brazil, will be shaped by the outcome of another play-off in October. Whereas the Celtic clash was considered a meeting of similar standard, Ireland are up against it for this one. Uefa's preference for established nations dictates nations finishing third in League A can preserve their status by beating a runner-up from League B. That's where Ireland find themselves following relegation from League A and failure to bounce straight back. Denmark, Iceland, Belgium or Austria await in Friday's draw. Only the latter have not qualified for next month's Euros. Best case scenario is being paired with Austrians, contrasted with a duel against Denmark. Granted, they trundle into the playoffs off a 6-1 hammering by a slick Sweden side but this will be their seventh straight Euros, the peak being a runners-up finish in 2017. Ireland must navigate the playoffs to be among the top 16 European teams competing for World Cup qualification – with it a playoff assured – because they were always playing catch-up since their second game of the campaign resulted in a shock 4-0 defeat to the Slovenians. 'All four teams are tough but I believe that we can go and beat anyone,' stressed Ward about the next competitive step, after a double-header summer friendly against USA. 'Players that have played for me at club and country often laugh at me because I'm somebody that believes that we can do anything if we really want to.' Despite being 12 places behind Ireland in Fifa's rankings, the team from the Balkans are a structured unit and prepared for what Ireland produced in both games. They were entitled to prioritise elevation over defeat when the three minutes of stoppage time elapsed, thrilled to upset the script Uefa favour abiding by. Saoirse Noonan's winner on her Cork homecoming registered a fifth victory in six for Ireland but not by sufficient margin to dislodge the table-toppers. Just under 10,000 were at Pairc Uí Chaoimh to see Noonan add a second international goal to the first she scored in 2021 but Ireland required another three to salvage top spot in a group they were favourites for. Performances for Ireland have been erratic since Carla Ward's first window in charge went awry. Emily Murphy was the gleeful recipient of a present to salvage victory in Turkey on Friday and her goalscoring impact earned a start in Ward's reshuffled side. This was Ireland's turn to bat and clocking up goals rather than runs was their objective. Defenders were in the thick of the aerial barrage, with Anna Patten first to threaten with a fifth minute poked volley straight into the goalkeeper's hands. Abbie Larkin was next to test Zala Mersnik by cutting in from the left and drilling a shot which the stopper stooped low to repel. Pressure was building and the breakthrough soon arrived after 19 minutes. When Denise O'Sullivan and Murphy collided in attempting to connect with Katie McCabe's left-wing cross, it seemed the chance was lost but the latter dashed to retrieve the ball. Once she prevented it rolling out of play, the ball was teed up for defender Jessie Stapleton to loft a high cross into the box. Her delivery hung long enough in the air for Noonan to elude her marker and plant a thumping header from 10 yards that flew beyond the reach of Mersnik. Hordes of green shirts flooded into the final third in the hope of using that opener as a stimulus and while Patten jabbed a volley wide Ireland still had to be wary of the counter. Lara Prašnikar, who'd scored a brace in Koper, almost exposed Ireland's high line by nipping in behind but Courtney Brosnan did well to bat her shot away. It was a similar pattern for the second half with Ireland overloading the wings without peppering the goal. With a bit more conviction, Ireland might have neared their target. Stapleton's header from McCabe's cross five minutes after the interval was more of a glance, as was another from Caitlin Hayes with 17 minutes left. Murphy's shot was parried and the introduction of Megan Campbell added the throw-in dimension Ireland have become increasingly dependent on. Just once did it threaten with a scud towards fellow substitute Marissa Sheva but the goalkeeper smothered well. Also on towards the end was Louise Quinn for her 122nd cap. The towering centre-back had rescued Ireland in the past, up from the back Shane Duffy-style, but the chase was too steep even for her legendary powers. Frustration boiled into Patten incurring a booking to rule her out of the play-off, one of five players walking a suspension tightrope, and they will require all their nous to emerge from the two-leg assignment. 'We've seen from game one to game six the improvement in our team,' added Ward. 'The way I'd put it is we need a Carla Ward team on the ball and an Irish mentality off the ball. 'If we want to play in an exciting way going forward, and that's the way I like my teams to play, we have to be better out of possession. 'We are still building. Throughout this campaign, we have had five training sessions with the entire squad so to build the way we are and to finish the way we did against Slovenia. 'I could not ask for more. A couple of more goals yes, but we got to be proud of that performance. That was an Irish performance." IRELAND: C Brosnan; J Stapleton (M Campbell 62), C Hayes, A Patten; E Murphy, M Connolly, D O'Sullivan, K McCabe, A Larkin (Louise Quinn 80); K Carusa (M Sheva 80), S Noonan (A Barrett 62). SLOVENIA: Z Mersnik; K Erzen, L Golob, D Conc, S Agrez; S Makovec, L Prasnikar, K Korosec, S Kolbi, Z Kramzar (M Zver 88); M Sternad (N Kajzba 68). Referee: Miriama Bockova (Slovakia). Attendance: 9,433.
