Let us remind you that the referees officiating Sunday’s Ekstraklasa match between Górnik Zabrze and Jagiellonia Białystok (2:1), headed by the main referee Bartosz Frankowski, will temporarily not be included in the staff – members of the PZPN Referees’ College decided.
As informed by the Polish Football Association, the chairman of the College of Referees, Marcin Szulc, called an urgent meeting of the presidium right after the meeting in Zabrze. Its members were unanimous in their assessment of the situation in the second half, when – when the score was 1-1 – one of the counterattacks was interrupted by a foul on the Greek striker Dimitris Rallis by the home team’s defender Josema. The inhabitants of Białystok demanded a red card for the Spaniard. On the evening of Monday, October 27, it turned out that Jagiellonia was following suit.
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Jagiellonia’s statement after the loud match in Zabrze
“Jagiellonia Białystok informs that on October 27, 2025, it sent a letter to Mr. Marcin Szulc, chairman of the College of Referees of the Polish Football Association,” the club begins on the X platform.
“In the first part of the speech, the club asked to share the content of the communication between the refereeing team officiating the match and the VAR team during the assessment of the situation from the 70th minute of the match, regarding Josema’s foul on Dimitris Rallis,” he reveals.
“Further in the letter, Jagiellonia Białystok asked for an interpretation of the event from the 93rd minute, in which Lukas Podolski hit Oskar Pietuszewski with his elbow,” we read.
“The aim of the speech is to obtain full transparency in the field of referee decisions and to strive to maintain the highest standards of transparency and equal treatment of all competition participants. The club operates in the spirit of fair play, respecting the integrity of sports competition,” explains the club from Białystok.
This was Frankowski’s explanation
After the meeting in front of Canal Plus cameras, Frankowski admitted that he made a mistake in assessing the situation. He explained that he was confused by the fact that the Jagiellonia striker also pulled the Zabrze defender by the shirt, but it was the Górnik player who played dirty first and should have been punished with a red card, because the rival was playing the so-called clear position and had a good chance to score.
The referee did not want to reveal the details of communication with his assistants and those responsible for VAR, he emphasized that as the head of the referee team he was responsible for this incident and apologized to both Jagiellonia players and fans.
Jagiellonia has not lost 18 previous matches in both the Premier League and the Conference League. The defeat in Zabrze was the first since the inaugural round (0:4 against Bruk-Bet Termalica) and cost the team from Białystok the loss of the leading position, which was taken by… Górnik.
Source: PSO/PAP
