In a surprising disciplinary decision, UEFA has suspended Polish football referees Bartosz Frankowski and Tomasz Musiał until June 2025. The decision, announced by UEFA’s Control, Ethics, and Disciplinary Body on Saturday, follows an incident in early August where the two officials, set to officiate a UEFA Champions League qualifier in Lublin, Poland, were found intoxicated and escorted to a sobering center.
The incident unfolded on August 6, around 1:40 a.m., when local police received a report of three men carrying a road sign down Aleja Tysiąclecia in Lublin. Upon investigating, authorities found Frankowski and Musiał among the group, each with a blood alcohol level of approximately 1.5‰. Both were subsequently detained at the local sobering facility. They had been scheduled to officiate that evening’s UEFA Champions League third-round qualifier between Dynamo Kyiv and Rangers FC, with Frankowski assigned as the main VAR referee and Musiał as his assistant. However, following the incident, both were removed from their duties.
UEFA’s punishment is stricter than that imposed by the Polish Football Association (PZPN), which issued a one-year suspension in late August, with seven months deferred for two years. Frankowski and Musiał promptly issued statements apologizing for their actions.