UEFA appointed 38-year old Czech Libor Kovařík to referee the UEFA Europa League play-off 1st leg between PAOK and ZImbru Chișinău in Moldova (21 August 2014, 21:05, OTE TV).

Kovařík has been an international referee since 2006 and was upgraded to Czech top-flight games since 2008 (has officiated 114 of them so far). He is no stranger to Greek fans, as he took charge of the FIFA World Cup 2014 home qualifier between Greece and Liechtenstein (2-0) in October 2013. In August 2010, he refereed the UEFA Europa League play-off match between AEK Athens and Dundee United (1-1).

On that season (2010-11), Kovařík got to officiate his first UEL group stage games and also was appointed at UEFA Champions League qualifiers.

In a total of 47 international games, the 38—year old referee has awarded 8 penalties (4 for home sides and 4 for the visitors), has dismissed 6 players (1 of the home side and 5 of the visitors) and has shown 183 cautions (82 yellow cards for the home sides and 101 for the visiting outfits).

He will be accompanied by his countrymen Krystof Mencl and Jiri Molacek, the assistant referees, with Petr Ardeleanu acting as fourth official.

Teuvo Holopainen has been appointed UEFA delegate for the encounter between Zimbru and PAOK, while Emil Bozinovski from FYROM will be the UEFA referee observer.