Rob Dieperink and Pol van Boekel form the VAR team at Real Madrid – VfB Stuttgart. – Photo: KNVB Media
The group stage of the three European football tournaments is about to start, which means that the Dutch referees will also be fanning out across the European fields. Rob Dieperink (VAR) and Pol van Boekel (AVAR) will support referee Halil Umut Meler (Turkey) from the UEFA headquarters in Nyon (Switzerland) at the Champions League match between Real Madrid and VfB Stuttgart.
Kick-off at Santiago Bernabeu is on Tuesday 17 September at 9pm.
New layout
The Champions League has a different format in the group stage this season. Instead of eight different groups, the 36 participating clubs will now play eight matches in one group. The final ranking after the last match determines whether a club advances to the knockout phase (1 to 8); has to play an intermediate round (9 to 24) or is eliminated (25 to 36).
