UEFA have officially announced Marco di Bello as the referee for the Servette v Chelsea Conference League Playoff (2nd Leg) clash on Thursday. The 43-year-old Di Bello will have fellow Italians Alessandro Giallatini and Giovanni Baccini as his assistant refs, with Luca Zufferli as the fourth referee and Gianluca Aureliano on VAR duty. Chelsea lead 2-0 from the first leg.
While Di Bello has never previously refereed a Chelsea or Servette game as the main ref, he was on VAR duty when Servette drew 0-0 with Ludogorets in the UECL last season (February 2024)
The last UEFA game Di Bello refereed before this Chelsea clash with a 4-3 away win for Malmo at PAOK in the qualifying rounds of the Champions League earlier this month.
Last five games for Marco di Bello as referee (all competitions, most recent first)
Cagliari 1-1 Como (Serie A, 4 yellow cards)
PAOK 3-4 Malmo (UCL, 6 yellow cards)
Salernitana 1-2 Verona (Serie A, 5 yellow cards)
Palermo 2-2 Ascoli (Serie B, 4 yellow cards)
Spezia 0-0 Sampdoria (Serie B, 5 yellow cards)
Interestingly, the home team didn’t win in any of these recent games, and there’s been a minimum of four cards in all of these fixtures.
Di Bello was also in charge of the infamous Lazio AC Milan game from last season where three players got sent off (Pellegrini, Guendouzi, Marusic), and he dished out 10 yellows.
In fact, for the last game he refereed and the home side won, you have to go all the way back to December 2023 (Inter 4-0 Udinese)
English club European performances with Di Bello as referee (W5, L2)
Aston Villa 2-1 Legia
LASK 1-3 Liverpool
PSV 2-0 Arsenal
Man Utd 0-1 Real Sociedad
West Ham 3-1 Viborg
Tottenham Hotspur 3-2 Vitesse