Azerbaijani referee to officiate UEFA Champions League match

Azerbaijani referee Aliyar Aghayev has been appointed to officiate the UEFA Champions League match between Sturm Graz (Austria) and Club Brugge (Belgium) on October 2, Azernews reports.

He will be supported by fellow Azerbaijani referees Zeynal Zeynalov and Akif Amirali, with Tural Gurbanov as the fourth official.

The VAR officials for the game will be David Coote and Stuart Attwell from England. The match is scheduled to take place at Worthersee Stadion in Klagenfurt, Austria, at 23:00 (Baku time).

The 2024–25 UEFA Champions League is the 70th season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA and the 33rd season since it was rebranded from the European Champion Clubs' Cup to the UEFA Champions League.

This is the first season under a new format, where in the league phase each team plays eight games against different opponents, but all 36 teams are ranked in a joint group.

The final will be played on May 31, 2025, at Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany.

The winners of the 2024–25 UEFA Champions League will automatically qualify for the 2025–26 UEFA Champions League league phase, the 2025 FIFA Intercontinental Cup, the 2029 FIFA Club World Cup, and earn the right to play against the winners of the 2024–25 UEFA Europa League in the 2025 UEFA Super Cup.