Who are the most card-happy officials in the Champions League?

When watching the Premier League, we probably have a rough idea as to the tendencies of certain match officials. Some, like Paul Tierney, like to let the game flow, whereas others, such as Stuart Attwell, can’t wait to administer justice.

It would probably be fair to say that our knowledge of the 44 referees strutting their stuff in the Champions League last season is not quite so strong, so we thought we’d do our best to remedy the situation by looking at how they each performed.

THE BIG DOGS

During the 2025/26 campaign, 108 of the 189 matches (57.14%) were officiated by just 15 men from 11 countries. These are obviously the individuals most trusted by UEFA, with Michael Oliver amongst their number:

There is clearly something in the water when it comes to Spanish referees and red cards, with Jesus Gil Manzano and Jose Maria Sanchez combining to brandish nine across their 12 matches. This is in stark contrast to Messrs Oliver, Eskas, Gozubuyuk, Guida and Kruzliak who kept their powder dry on this particular front.

What’s more, two of this quintet (Espen Eskas and Marco Guida) were amongst the most lenient officials overall, joining Danny Makkelie in averaging under three cards per game. At the other end of the scale, meanwhile, Daniel Siebert, Joao Pinheiro, Istvan Kovacs and Sanchez reached for their pockets in excess of five times per match.

Interestingly, 11 of these officials handed out more yellow cards to visiting players than they did to their home counterparts. The aforementioned Kovacs was the biggest culprit, with 26 of his 38 cautions going to members of the away team.

All of this is useful information if you are looking to beat the bookies in the Champions League this season, with a plethora of markets now available that revolve around cards.

THE SOLID CITIZENS

Our next group of 15 officials come from 12 different nations, with each presiding over between three and five matches. Most notable amongst their number is Poland’s Szymon Marciniak, a man who refereed both the 2022 World Cup Final and the 2023 Champions League Final:

Unlike his countrymen in the first group, Messrs Manzano and Sanchez, Alejandro Hernandez proved to be as lenient as they come. In fact, across his five games in Europe’s premier club competition during the 2025/26 campaign, the Spaniard brandished just a handful of yellow cards.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, Rade Obrenovic was a man to fear, averaging 5.75 cards per game across his four matches. Meanwhile, in addition to the Slovenian, six other officials weighed in with an average of at least four cards per game.

Football fans are often quick to accuse referees of favouring the home side and both Davide Massa and Sven Jablonski have left themselves vulnerable to such accusations. In fact, all three of the red cards given out by the Italian and nine of the 11 yellow cards flashed by the German were shown to visiting players.

Given how infrequently the latter of these two officials cautions members of the home team, any football betting tips worth their salt would have to recommend choosing ‘No’ in the ‘Both teams to receive cards’ market whenever he is down to take charge of a Champions League match.

THE ‘RARE AS HEN’S TEETH’ BRIGADE

Finally, we come to a group of 14 officials who were rarely seen in the Champions League last season. These men hail from 12 different countries and took charge of a total of just 19 games between them:

Although we are working with a relatively small sample size, it is interesting to note that nine of these referees handed out cards at a rate of at least five per game, with Turkey’s Umut Meler going to his pocket seven times in his one appearance.

What’s more, Irfan Peljto and Simone Sozza didn’t let a lack of game time dampen their spirits, both brandishing two red cards in as many matches.

Not all of this group were quite so quick to administer justice, however, with Croatia’s Igor Pajac and Poland’s Pawel Raczkowski each marking their one outing at Europe’s top table by failing to caution anyone.

When it comes to Champions League predictions, we can see that those officials who are afforded few opportunities in the competition are often keen to make their mark. This can result in an inflated number of bookings, which is definitely something worth paying attention to.

SUMMARY

Hopefully, this deep dive into the data has given you a distinct flavour of what to expect from certain referees on the Champions League stage, be that frequent dismissals from the likes of Manzano and Sanchez or yellow cards aplenty for visiting players from Messrs Kovacs and Jablonski.

In fact, taking into account who is in charge can be particularly helpful when it comes to assessing whether or not there is value to be found in today’s football odds, as it is often said that a leopard never changes its spots.

NB: Cards shown to managers, coaches and unused substitutes are included in these totals