According to reports, UEFA officially announced on Monday that Istvan Kovacs will referee the Champions League final.

The 40-year-old referee, who hails from the city of Nagykanizsa in Romania and lives in Cluj-Napoca, has been officiating in the Romanian top flight since 2007 and joined FIFA’s international referees list in 2010. Kovacs was included in UEFA’s elite referees list in 2019.

He first refereed in the Champions League in 2018 and has since officiated 29 matches in the main stages of the competition. The upcoming match will be his eighth in this season’s Champions League. Kovacs progressed to the quarter-finals in the past two seasons and also officiated a semi-final in 2022.

Among his international honors are refereeing the 2022 Europa Conference League final and the 2024 Europa League final. At the Qatar World Cup, he only participated as the fourth official but officiated as the main referee in the last two editions of the European Championship.

This season, Kovacs refereed the PSG vs Bayern Munich match, which ended in a 1-0 defeat for PSG, with Ousmane Dembélé being sent off in the 57th minute. He also officiated the Round of 16 match between Paris Saint-Germain and Liverpool, where Enrique’s team advanced on penalties. Overall, PSG has recorded three wins and two losses in the five matches Kovacs has refereed.

Kovacs also refereed Inter Milan’s match against Arsenal this season, which ended in a 1-0 victory for the Italians. In total, Inter has recorded two wins and one draw under his refereeing.

Kovacs’ assistants for this year’s final will be Mihai Marica from Romania and Vasile Marinescu from Romania. The fourth official will be João Pinheiro from Portugal, with Bruno Alves as the reserve assistant referee. The VAR referee for the match will be Dennis Higler from the Netherlands, with Cătălin Popa from Romania and Pol van Boekel from the Netherlands as his VAR assistants.

The Champions League final will take place on May 31 at the Allianz Arena in Munich.