UEFA has appointed Daniel Siebert to referee the Champions League final between Arsenal and Paris St Germain on May 30.
Siebert will walk out for the biggest club match of the season having already taken charge of Arsenal’s second leg of their Champions League semi-final against Atletico Madrid, and UEFA said eight officials will be on duty on the night of May 30.
The numbers underline why the appointment matters: Siebert has refereed four Arsenal matches and Arsenal have won all four. Two of those assignments this season were 1-0 knockout victories — Siebert took charge of Arsenal’s 1-0 win over Sporting at Estadio Jose Alvalade and the 1-0 second-leg win over Atletico Madrid — and the record gives his name a material weight heading into the final.
Siebert is a veteran of major international fixtures. He has been a Bundesliga referee since 2012, officiated three matches at Euro 2020 and refereed the 2021 FIFA Arab Cup final between Tunisia and Algeria at Al-Bayt Stadium. That résumé is the credential UEFA relied on when naming him for May 30.
UEFA confirmed the wider slate of match officials and finals this month: François Letexier will referee the Europa League final between Freiburg and Aston Villa on May 20, Tess Olofsson will take charge of the Women’s Champions League final between Barcelona and Olympique Lyonnais on May 23, and Maurizio Mariani will referee the Conference League final between Crystal Palace and Rayo Vallecano a week after that. The Killers were also confirmed as the pre-match entertainment for the Champions League final.
The appointment contains an obvious tension. Siebert’s run of four Arsenal wins is a clean, verifiable pattern now attached to the whistle of the man UEFA has chosen for the showpiece. That record is a simple fact; its optics will be discussed as loudly as any decision he makes on the pitch because it links the referee directly to a team contesting the title.
UEFA’s choice to staff the match with eight officials amplifies that calculus: the governing body is sending a larger match team to sit beside the central referee whose recent Arsenal assignments will be scrutinized. Siebert will therefore enter the final under an extra layer of formal support even as his personal history with one of the clubs becomes part of the narrative around the game.
For Daniel Siebert, the appointment is a singular professional moment. He has refereed high-stakes international matches before, but none on the same stage as the Champions League final between Arsenal and Paris St Germain on May 30. His previous matches involving Arsenal — and the two 1-0 knockout wins this season — ensure that the final will be judged in part by whether that run continues under his control.
