Francois Letexier will referee the Euro 2024 final between England and Spain on Sunday, his first time officiating such a significant international event.
The Three Lions are seeking to erase 58 years of misery in Berlin, but they must defeat a La Roja team that has performed wonderfully throughout the tournament.
England advanced to the final with a thrilling 2-1 win against the Netherlands on Wednesday night, while Spain defeated France by the same scoreline 24 hours earlier.
Both teams will be looking forward to the massive fight in Berlin on Sunday, as will Letexier, who has been confirmed to take control of his career’s greatest match.
Who is Francois Letexier?
Despite just turning 35 in April, the Frenchman has already made it to the top of the officiating ranks, having started in Ligue 1 back in 2016.
Since then, he has overseen the Coupe de France finals and officiated the UEFA Super Cup match between Manchester City and Sevilla in the previous year.
He served as a fourth official in the Champions League final this year between Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund, and as a VAR in the Europa League final between Manchester United and Villarreal in 2021.
Some England fans may be familiar with him from European competition last season, as Letexier refereed in the Champions League and Europa League.
He was in charge of Liverpool’s 1-0 win at Atalanta and the epic 3-3 draw between Real Madrid and Manchester City in the Champions League quarter-final first leg in Spain.
Notably, Letexier was once in charge of a Ligue 1 match between Nice and Nantes which finished 1-1 after a controversial late penalty awarded to the former, after which he received ‘many threats’.
Francois Letexier at Euro 2024
Letexier has been in charge of three matches during Euro 2024 so far, handling Croatia 2-2 Albania and Denmark 0-0 Serbia during the group stage and Spain 4-1 Georgia in the last 16.
The Frenchman did not show a red card in any of those matches, peaking at five yellows in the goalless dud between Denmark and Serbia.
The assistant referees on Sunday will be Frenchmen Cyril Mugnier and Mehdi Rahmouni, with the fourth official Szymon Marciniak from Poland. Another French official, Jérôme Brisard, will be VAR.
What has been said about Francois Letexier?
Given his relative inexperience, many have been surprised at Letexier’s appointment to the biggest match, including former English referee Mark Clattenburg who officiated the Euro 2016 final.
He said: ‘UEFA’s choice of Francois Letexier for Sunday’s final will come as a big surprise to a fair few in the refereeing world, including in France, where he is not even seen as their top official.
‘That is Clement Turpin who, unlike Letexier, has the finals of the Europa League and Champions League listed on his C.V.
‘My hunch is Turpin was overlooked for this one because of the mistakes he made in the Euro 2024 opener between Scotland and Germany.’