Raczkowski named referee for Real’s European return

Pawel Raczkowski will be the referee for Real Sociedad’s European return this Thursday against Bournemouth at Anoeta. As Mundo Deportivo reports, the Polish official—43, born in Warsaw—will be assisted by compatriot Tomasz Kwiatkowski in the VAR room.

Polish referee, VAR in tow

It will also mark the first time Raczkowski has refereed matches involving both Real Sociedad and the English side. Still, he is not new to Spanish football: Mundo Deportivo notes that he has previously taken charge of LaLiga games featuring teams such as Athletic, Villarreal, Celta and Granada.

The appointment comes after Real’s previous European outing with Benoit Bastien as referee at Old Trafford. The outlet suggests this should be an easier bar for Raczkowski to clear.

European track record

Raczkowski is a mainstay in Poland, having officiated 368 Ekstraklasa matches plus 23 cup ties, and he has been an international since 2013. His European experience totals 31 Europa League games, 9 Champions League matches and 14 Conference League fixtures, including preliminary rounds and the final stages. This season alone, he refereed a Europa League qualifier and another Conference League match.

The piece also recalls a controversial episode: last season he stepped in at short notice to referee Liverpool–Galatasaray in the Champions League round of 16 after Marciniak was injured. Following the 4–0, the Turkish coach Buruk publicly criticised him, calling him “one of the worst referees in the world.”

Mundo Deportivo adds that Raczkowski’s assignments also take him beyond Europe, including in places like Saudi Arabia and Japan, and that in Greece his name was linked to a media scandal involving allegations tied to a flight—claims that those involved denied, as multiple reports said at the time.