Fandel gets Eindhoven final

The 42-year-old German Herbert Fandel will referee Wednesday night's UEFA Cup final between Middlesbrough FC and Sevilla FC in Eindhoven.

Showpiece event
A pianist who runs his own music school, the match will be Fandel's first time conducting a UEFA club competition showpiece and he has also never officiated in a game involving either of the two teams. Fandel, whose last UEFA Champions League appointment was Arsenal FC's 0-0 draw at Juventus on 5 April which saw the English side reach the semi-finals for the first time, will also become the first German to take charge of a one-off UEFA Cup final.

Distinguished footsteps
However, he does follow in the footsteps of countryman Aron Schmidhuber who was in the middle for the second leg of the 1989/90 UEFA Cup final between ACF Fiorentina and Juventus – a goalless draw setting Juve up for a 3-1 win on aggregate. The last German to referee a major UEFA final was Markus Merk, who oversaw the 2002/03 UEFA Champions League encounter between Juventus and AC Milan.

German team
Fandel will be assisted by compatriots Carsten Kadach and Volker Wezel, with Florian Meyer acting as fourth official. The Eindhoven final will be the highlight of a distinguished career that has included various UEFA tournaments, FIFA World Cup qualifying and the Olympics. His most recent high-profile appointment was the German Cup final on 29 April with FC Bayern München lifting the trophy after a 1-0 win against Eintracht Frankfurt.