Daniel Siebert is the Champions League final referee and that's good news for Arsenal

Analysis

Martin Macdonald | Writer

Content writer covering football, formula 1 and movies

The stage is set for the 2025/26 Champions League final with Arsenal set to take on defending champions, Paris Saint-Germain, at the Puskas Arena in Budapest.

PSG won the final last year after demolishing Inter Milan 5-0, with Desire Doue scoring a double and Achraf Hakimi, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Senny Mayulu also getting on the scoresheet. It was the first time the Parisians had ever won the tournament, dating back to their creation in 1970.

Arsenal are hoping to win their first ever European Cup/Champions League, having last featured in the final in 2006 when they were defeated by Barcelona.

The French side reached the final after a blockbuster semi-final tie against Bayern Munich that they won 6-5 on aggregate. The first leg, probably the game of the season in any tournament, ended 5-4 to PSG, while the second leg was a more reserved affair, a 1-1 draw at the Allianz Arena.

The other semi between Arsenal and Atletico Madrid was more methodical over both legs as the Gunners squeezed through 2-1 on aggregate. After a 1-1 draw in Spain in the first leg, Bukayo Saka scored the decisive goal in the second leg at the Emirates.

Arsenal will be pleased to know that the same referee from that semi-final home leg has been appointed to officiate the final.

Daniel Siebert was selected by UEFA as the referee for the final, and he has taken charge of two Arsenal matches this season - the 1-0 win against Sporting CP in the quarter-final home leg and the aforementioned 1-0 semi-final victory against Diego Simeone's side.

He has refereed PSG once this campaign in a 0-0 draw versus Athletic Club in the league phase.

In Siebert's nine Champions League games this season he has shown two red cards and awarded just one penalty kick.

The Arsenal-PSG game will be the first European final he has officiated.

UEFA confirm the officials for the #UCL Final.🏆

Referee: Daniel Siebert (Germany)
Assistants: Jan Seidel and Rafael Foltyn (both from Germany)
4th Official: Sandro Schärer (Switzerland)
Reserve AR: Guadalupe Porras Ayuso (Spain)
VAR: Bastian Dankert (Germany)
Assistant VAR:…

— Ben Jacobs (@JacobsBen) May 11, 2026

Among the discourse surrounding Premier League champions Arsenal and the tendency for melees to break out during corner-kicks in their games, it should come as music to their ears that they have a referee who has already taken charge of two of their matches this season.

He also made a huge call in Arsenal's favour in the Atletico game as Antoine Griezmann was fouled inside the box by Riccardo Calafiori. While that looked a definite foul, Siebert gave Arsenal a free-kick instead for a previous foul on Gabriel by Marc Pubill, even though there appeared to be minimal contact.

Siebert was aided by VAR on that occasion.

VAR intervened on Arsenal's behalf recently, too, in a crucial Premier League game against West Ham. The Hammers, threatened by relegation, thought they had equalised in injury time after Leandro Trossard had given Arsenal the 1-0 lead, but the referee and VAR deemed that goalkeeper David Raya had been impeded by forward Pablo with an arm across the chest.

Arsenal have usually benefited from the pushing and shoving inside penalty areas this season and Siebert will be all too aware of what to look out for when the Champions League final commences on Saturday.

In the Bundesliga this campaign, he averages 3.31 yellow cards brandished per game and has blown for 20.88 fouls per 90 minutes.

Remarkably, Arsenal didn't get a single penalty given against them in the Premier League this season and on Saturday, they'll have a referee who generally doesn't give penalties in Europe, with an average of 0.11 given per game.

Expert's opinion

Bundesliga expert Ronan Murphy believes the appointment of Siebert will likely benefit Arsenal:

"Arsenal were delighted when they saw Daniel Siebert was going to be the referee for their semi-final second leg with Atletico Madrid. Atleti had never won a match where he was the main official and Arsenal had won every game which he refereed. Those trends continued as the Gunners won 1-0 at home, with Siebert regularly whistling in Arsenal's favour. Siebert was the man in the middle for the 1-0 win over Sporting CP in the quarter-final and only took his cards out once during the game, and that was to book Sporting midfielder Hidemasa Morita.

"He is usually quite card happy in the Bundesliga, but lets a lot more go in the Champions League and that was evident in the semi-final with Atletico, as the only Arsenal bookings were people not even on the pitch - substitute goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga and Gunners boss Mikel Arteta.

"The Champions League will be his biggest ever game, and he will have a point to prove after not being selected for the World Cup this summer.  In Germany, he is often reluctant to give penalties and red cards - this is more the case in the Champions League - and this could bode well for the Gunners as they look to contend with PSG's tricky attackers inside the box."

Written by

Martin Macdonald | Writer

Martin Macdonald. a Content Writer for FootballTransfers and FootballTransfers USA, as well as the Business Operations Manager for RealTimes Network, has worked in football reporting for over 15 years, starting at GOAL and Perform Media before moving to RealTimes. He was formerly the Chief Editor of MovieMeter.com and has also written for FightFans, GPFans and MSN.

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