France and Switzerland have agreed to an “exchange of referees” for this weekend’s round of league clashes that will see a French official take charge of a Swiss Super League clash, and a Swiss referee to in turn officiate a French Ligue 1 top flight clash.
For this weekend, the programme is set to involve only one set of “exchanges”, with Jerome Brisard (France) taking charge of the Basel vs St.Gallen clash along with his assistants Benjamin Pages and Cyril Maugnier, and Sandro Scharer (Switzerland) to be the man with the whistle in the Caen Rennes fixture.
Basel are currently second in the Swiss Super League table, five points behind leaders Young Boys, while St.Gallen are in sixth. The Caen-Rennes clash is between sides who are 8th and 11th in Ligue 1.
There could be more such referee exchanges in the future, with the French federation likely to ink similar deals with other European nations.