Two referees found drunk ahead of UEFA Champions League qualifiers

For Rangers' UEFA Champions League qualifiers versus Dynamo Kyiv on Tuesday night, UEFA had to locate substitute VAR officials after the first official and his assistant were removed from the match due to their inebriated antics. According to TVP Sport, police nabbed seasoned Polish officials Bartosz Frankowski as well as his backup, Tomasz Musial, when they were seen stealing a traffic sign in the wee hours of the morning.

When authorities discovered that Frankowski, Musial, and a third person had more than 1.5 milligrams of alcohol in the blood, they were sent to a sobering-up centre in Poland. The match's referees were removed by UEFA, and Tomasz Kwiatkowski assumed responsibility for VAR, with Pawel Malec serving as his assistant.

A statement from the PZPN said that, “The College of Referees of the Polish FA will carry out a detailed analysis of the situation in connection with reports of improper behaviour of two Ekstraklasa referees who were supposed to work on the Champions League qualifying match between Dynamo Kyiv and Rangers FC.”

After missing out on qualifying for the group stage of the previous season, Rangers is trying to make it into the UEFA Champions League. The team captained by Philippe Clement will play Dynamo Kyiv of Ukraine over two legs on August 13 in the return matchup against Ibrox.

Polish referee apologises for his actions ahead

One of Poland's finest officials, Frankowski, 37, officiated at both the 2020 and 2024 European Championships. At the German competition, he served as a VAR.

Bartosz Frankowski apologised for his actions and said that, “I would like to express my regret for the events that took place on the night of 5 to 6 August. I am extremely sorry that I have damaged your trust with one irresponsible behaviour. I would like to note that during the incident I was not aggressive, I cooperated with police officers, and in the end, I was fined.”