Two prominent Polish football referees were apprehended in Lublin last night, found in possession of a stolen traffic sign and visibly intoxicated. The local police provided details of the arrest, which has stunned the football community and led to immediate repercussions.
The two referees, accompanied by another man, were on their way to a shopping center when they were intercepted by the police. The incident was first reported by the city’s surveillance system, prompting officers from the Municipal Police Headquarters to respond. “We received a notification from the city monitoring system and dispatched officers to the area near the PKS bus station. They found three heavily intoxicated men, each with about 1.5 promiles of alcohol in their system,” said Commissioner Kamil Gołębiowski, the press officer for the Lublin police, in an interview with WP SportoweFakty.
As a result of their actions, the referees were immediately removed from their scheduled officiating duties for the upcoming Champions League qualifying match at Motor Lublin stadium. They have been replaced by Tomasz Kwiatkowski and Paweł Malec.
The Polish Football Association (PZPN) has issued a statement addressing the situation. “Should the reported information be confirmed, the Referee College will request the General Secretary of the federation to terminate the contracts of the referees involved. The case will also be referred to the PZPN Disciplinary Commission, which may impose further disciplinary actions,” the statement read.