Slovenian top football referee Damir Skomina retires

Brdo pri Kranju – The most successful Slovenian football referee Damir Skomina officially announced the end of his career at Monday’s press conference at Brdo pri Kranju. He stated that he wanted to stay in football, revealing that he would run for the presidency of the third division team Izola.

Skomina’s career began in 1992, when he refereed his first match in the local league of the western Primorska region. His baptism of fire in the Slovenian first division came in April 2000, the Football Association of Slovenia (NZS) noted.

One of the highlights of his international career came in October 2008, when he refereed a Champions League match for the first time after being on the international list of referees for six years.

In the same year, he became the first Slovenian football referee to be featured at the Olympic Games, while he was also a fourth official at the 2008 Euro.

Skomina took another big career step in 2012, when he became the first Slovenian referee to officiate a match at the European championship and a European Super Cup. At the 2016 Euro, he was one of the three referees who officiated four matches.

He also featured regularly in European club football competitions, where he had increasingly been entrusted with the most prestigious matches. In 2017, he was the first Slovenian referee to officiate the Europa League final, played between Manchester United and Ajax.

In 2018, he also made his refereeing debut at the World Cup, which was a new milestone for Slovenian referees in general, while the greatest achievement of his career was refereeing the 2019 Champions League final between Liverpool and Tottenham.

“Damir Skomina’s successes should be a challenge to the many young football referees who are following his path. He has officiated in hundreds of domestic and international matches, the most in the Slovenian first division, where he refereed 354 matches.”

“He also had a rich and illustrious record in European competitions, where he ended his career last November: in a match between Brugge and Borussia Dortmund, he was forced into retirement by injury a year before the last whistle of his career was due to be blown. It was also the only match of his career to end prematurely,” the NZS said.

The post Slovenian top football referee Damir Skomina retires appeared first on Slovenia Times.

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