DAMIR SKOMINA,

of Slovenia, will referee this year’s Champions League final, assisted by his countrymen Jure Praprotnik and Robert Vukan. Given that the average gate of Slovenian league matches this season is 1,468 and there are some clubs in the top division that attract fewer than 400, one can only marvel at the ability of Skomina and his assistants to perform unruffled in front of vociferous crowds of tens of thousands. The Slovenian-born president of UEFA, Aleksander Ceferin must be equally proud, too. What a happy quirk of fate that Skomina’s rise to the very top of his profession should coincide with his own.