Italy – France: contested decisions, sulphurous reputation and bad memories among the Blues… The referee of the match is a character

Slavko Vincic. This name is now widespread on European lawns. This Sunday evening, the Slovenian referee will take his place on the pitch at San Siro to officiate during the meeting between Italy and France as part of the “final” of Group B of the League of Nations. The 44-year-old will thus return to the Blues, almost four months after leading the semi-final of Euro 2024 which saw Spain reach the Olympic stadium in Berlin.

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A final, the native of Maribor had experienced one a few weeks earlier when directing the poster between Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid, on June 1 on the lawn of Wembley (0-2). And very recently, the Madrid club of Aurélien Tchouaméni and Kylian Mbappé, largely absent from this gathering, found Vincic. It was 10 days ago, at Bernabeau, against AC Milan. And it ended badly for the Spaniards (1-3).

“You’re crazy!”

The latter had shown real frustration during the meeting. Vinicius Junior even stood out by insulting the Slovenian referee as “crazy”. As for Jude Bellingham, he made a name for himself by saying, in his native English, “f*ck you” (F*ck you, Editor’s note). Because it must be said that Slavko Vincic has a sulphurous reputation, having been arrested in 2020, suspected of links with organized crime. “I ended up at this ranch by chance. I accepted an invitation to lunch, which turned out to be my biggest mistake. I had nothing to do with the arrested group,” he said then that cocaine and weapons had been found there.

An “error” with no consequences for the rest of his career, especially since he had refereed the Blues at the end of 2021 as part of the World Cup qualifiers. At the time, Anthony Martial had equalized for the Tricolores, who had failed to bring victory to kyiv. In 2015 against Armenia (4-0), then in 2019 against Albania (0-2), Didier Deschamps' men won when Vincic was on the whistle. Before, therefore, this semi-final of Euro 2024. A very bad memory for the Blues.