Transylvanian Hungarian referee István Kovács will be officiating the UEFA Champions League final in Munich, Germany, on 31 May, UEFA announced. Reigning French champions Paris Saint-Germain will be facing off against their Italian counterpart Internazionale, with Kovács leading the two sides to kick-off.
While the 40-year-old sportsman from Nagykároly (Carei), Romania has been trained by and is working domestically under the Romanian Football Association, he is the fourth ethnic Hungarian to referee the European club football’s most anticipated match. Previously, Károly Palotai (twice, in 1976 and 1981), Sándor Puhl (in 1997), and, most recently, Viktor Kassai (in 2011) have had that honour.
Interestingly, this is the third European Cup final for Kovács, as he refereed the inaugural UEFA Conference League final between AS Roma and Feyenoord in 2022, then the UEFA Europa League final between Atalanta and Leverkusen. Both times, the Italian teams (Roma and Atalanta) won, which is a good omen for this year’s UCL finalists, Inter from Italy.
Kovács has been refereeing Champions League games since 2018, a total of 29 during his career—he will be celebrating his 30th UCL appearance in style. The game furthest into the competition that he was in charge of was the first leg of the semi-final between Manchester City and the eventual winners Real Madrid in 2022.
In addition, Kovács was included in UEFA’s referee squad in the 2021 (postponed from 2020 due to the COVID pandemic) and the 2024 European Championships. He officiated three group stage fixtures combined across the two tournaments.
Mihai Marica and Ferencz Tunyogi will be helping him as assistant referees (linesmen) in the UCL final in Munich this year, both from Romania. Portuguese João Pinheiro will be the fourth official, while Dennis Higler from the Netherlands will be in charge of the Video Assisted Refereeing (VAR) system.
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