The next milestone: Jablonski in the premier class for the first time

Celebrating his Champions League debut in Cyprus: German FIFA referee Sven Jablonski IMAGO/Kessler-Sportfotografie

Felix Zwayer (44) has officiated 39 Champions League matches in his career, making him the most experienced of the ten current German FIFA referees in Europe's premier club competition. This season, Zwayer has refereed the matches Manchester City vs. Napoli ( 2-0 ), which included an early sending-off, and Chelsea vs. Ajax ( 5-1 ), which also featured an early dismissal.

Daniel Siebert (41, 20 Champions League appearances in total) has also made two appearances so far this Champions League season, playing for Chelsea against Benfica ( 1:0 ) with a late yellow-red card and PSV Eindhoven against Napoli ( 6:2 ) and is scheduled to play in the match between Juventus and Sporting Lisbon on Tuesday evening (9 pm, LIVE! on kicker).

The two Berliners, Zwayer and Siebert, who were also active at the 2024 European Championship on home soil, have been the leading German figures at the international level since the end of 2021. At that time, Felix Brych , who still holds the Champions League record for referees with 69 matches, ended his FIFA career.

Alongside Zwayer and Siebert, Tobias Stieler (44) has also been a member of UEFA's highest "Elite" category for years. Stieler has made 19 Champions League appearances to date, five of which were in the 2024/25 group stage. This season, however, Stieler, who has played in one qualifying match each for all three UEFA competitions and one Europa League match since the summer, has not yet been selected to officiate in the Champions League.

Instead, Sven Jablonski (35) will make his debut in Europe's elite competition. In the match between Pafos FC and FC Villarreal on Wednesday (6:45 p.m. CET, LIVE! on kicker), he will be assisted by Eduard Beitinger and Lasse Koslowski on the lines, with Tobias Reichel serving as the fourth official. Sören Storks will be the VAR, and Johann Pfeifer will be the VAR assistant.

The nomination by the European Football Association is the next milestone for the up-and-coming Jablonski, who has been on FIFA's list since the beginning of 2022 and was upgraded to the second-highest category "First" by UEFA in June 2024. The 1.90-meter-tall referee, who also regularly receives compliments from club representatives for his style of officiating, was entrusted by referee chief Knut Kircher last season with the German classic between Dortmund and Bayern ( 1-1 ) for the first time and received a kicker rating of 2.0 for a convincing performance.

At the international level, Jablonski, who currently has 113 Bundesliga appearances and an average rating of 2.9 after five matches in the top division this season, has so far officiated four A-level international matches and eleven European Cup matches, including three in the Europa League.

Jablonski was most recently in the spotlight after the DFB Cup match between Frankfurt and Dortmund (2-4 on penalties , kicker rating 4). Before Dortmund's equalizer, he and his team missed a marginal offside without VAR, but despite another controversial incident against the home side, he also received praise from the ultimately defeated Frankfurt team after the match.

After impressing with a consistently generous approach in Saturday's top match between Leipzig and Stuttgart (3:1) (grade 2.0), Jablonski now has the opportunity to prove himself for the first time on the biggest European club stage in Cyprus.

Harm Osmers (40), who has been a member of the "First" category longer than Jablonski, also received this opportunity last season. However, since the Dinamo Zagreb vs. AS Monaco match ( 2-2 ) in early October 2024, Osmers has not been assigned any further Champions League matches. This season, he officiated two Europa League games in October. Sascha Stegemann (40), also a "First" member, has refereed one Europa League match since the summer, for a total of nine games. He has not yet officiated a Champions League match.

The four other German FIFA referees Robert Schröder (40), who will have his first national match of the season this weekend after a foot injury, Daniel Schlager (35), Florian Badstübner (34) and Matthias Jöllenbeck (38) all belong to the third highest UEFA category "Second" and have so far only officiated in the Europa Conference League.