UEFA has announced the referee appointments for two Europa League league phase matches involving Portuguese clubs, with Scottish official John Beaton set to make his debut overseeing an FC Porto game.
Beaton will officiate FC Porto’s upcoming away fixture against Dutch side Utrecht.
Separately, Hungarian referee Balázs Berke will take charge of Sporting de Braga’s home match against Belgian club Genk.
These appointments are for the fourth round of the competition’s league phase.
John Beaton has previously refereed Sporting de Braga in two Europa League losses, a 2-1 defeat to Red Star in 2021 and another 2-1 loss against Basaksehir in 2017.
For the Utrecht-FC Porto match, Beaton will be assisted by compatriots David McGeachie and Graeme Stewart. Calum Scott is the fourth official.
The Video Assistant Referee (VAR) for the game will be Andrew Dallas, with England’s Stuart Attwell serving as assistant VAR.
FC Porto currently holds 15th position in the Europa League league phase standings with six points. Their opponents, Utrecht, are 35th and remain without points.
The match between Utrecht and FC Porto is scheduled for Thursday, kicking off at 4:45 PM Lisbon time (UTC+0).
Balázs Berke, 41, has no prior experience officiating matches that have involved Portuguese teams.
His assistants for the Sporting de Braga-Genk game will be Vencel Tóth and Péter Kóbor. Gergo Bogár is the fourth official.
The VAR team for Braga’s home fixture will consist of Poland’s Piotr Lasyk as VAR and his compatriot Tomasz Kwiatkowski as assistant VAR.
Sporting de Braga remains undefeated and occupies second place in the league phase with nine points. They are tied with leader Midtjylland and third-place Lyon.
Their opponents, Genk, are 19th in the standings with four points.
The Sporting de Braga-Genk match will also be held on Thursday, with an 8:00 PM Lisbon time (UTC+0) kickoff.