Daniel Siebert will referee Paris Saint-Germain v Arsenal in the Champions League final in Budapest.
The German official has been appointed by the Uefa Referees Committee and will be tasked with officiating one of the biggest games in football at the Puskas Arena on Saturday, 30 May.
The 42-year-old has 11 years of experience since beginning his career in 2015 and brings experience from nine Uefa Champions League matches from this season alone.
Siebert was the referee in the quarter-final first leg between Sporting Lisbon and Arsenal, one of two games officiated this term with the Gunners, who ran out 1-0 winners on that night.
He was also in charge in the semi-final second leg between Arsenal and Atletico Madrid, another 1-0 win for the Gunners, which will appeal to Gunners fans ahead of the match.
Siebert is yet to show a yellow card to an Arsenal player, and has shown just three yellow cards across both matches. While he has also officiated one PSG match this season; the goalless draw at Athletic Bilbao in December, where he brandished four yellow cards.
Siebert averages more yellow cards on average overall, with 4.44 per game from nine games in the Champions League this term, according to Who Scored, and 0.22 red cards per game. That’s up from his Bundesliga average, from 15 games this term, with 3.20 yellow cards per game and 0.13 red cards per game.
Further experience comes from last year’s Uefa Europa League semi-final between Manchester United and Athletic Bilbao, and he also officiated two games at the Uefa Euro 2024 and three games at Uefa Euro 2020.
Following Arsenal’s victory over West Ham, and the high-profile VAR incident that ruled out Callum Wilson’s equaliser for the Hammers, Mikel Arteta has publicly confessed his admiration for the pressure officials operate under.
Notably Chris Kavanagh and how he observed 17 replays over four minutes and 17 seconds before deciding to rule out the goal due to Pablo’s arm impeding David Raya.
“When I had to be critical, I have been,” Arteta told Sky Sports. “Today I have to congratulate them [VAR]. 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.”
Uefa Champions League final 2026 refereeing team
Referee: Daniel Siebert (Germany)
Assistants: Jan Seidel and Rafael Foltyn (both from Germany)
4th Official: Sandro Schärer (Switzerland)
Reserve AR: Guadalupe Porras Ayuso (Spain)
VAR: Bastian Dankert (Germany)
Assistant VAR: Robert Schröder (Germany)
VAR Support: Carlos Del Cerro Grande (Spain)
