The commission of referees removed judges Orlo and Horák from the list due to violation of the code

Match of the 15th round of the first football league: MFK Karviná – Slovan Liberec, November 21, 2021 in Karviná. Chief referee Pavel Orel.

Prague – Chief referee Pavel Orel and assistant Adam Horák were removed from the list for professional football competitions. According to the referees' commission of the Football Association of the Czech Republic (FAČR), both violated internal regulations and the code of ethics. The commission did not disclose the exact offense committed by the judges in the communique. Orel told ČTK that the day before the recent opening match of the 2nd preliminary round of the European Conference League between RFS Riga and Sabah in Latvia, where he was the fourth referee and Horák was the assistant, he had one beer at the hotel and the delegate mentioned it in his report.

Orel last managed Sunday's match of the third round of the Czech league between Slavia and Zlín (2:1). Horák was the assistant video referee in the same duel. Both eliminated referees met in one game this season in Ostrava, where Horák was the second assistant and Orel the video referee during the match with Slovácko (0:0). But the offense concerns a cup match in UEFA competitions.

“The decision concerns my participation in the European Conference League match between RFS Riga and Sabah Baku, to which I was delegated with my colleagues two weeks ago. I admit that the day before the aforementioned match, after arriving before lunch, I drank one beer at the hotel , in which we were accommodated,” said Orel in a statement to ČTK.

“This fact was mentioned by the match delegate in the subsequent report of the said match. The FAČR referees' commission evaluated the matter as saying that I violated the code of ethics for referees for professional competitions I consider the situation that has arisen to be unfortunate, however, the decision is fully within the competence of the FAČR referees' commission,” added Orel.

In the match that took place on July 26, he was the fourth referee and Horák was the first assistant. The match, in which visiting Sabah won 2:0, was completely managed by Czech referees. Jan Machálek played the main role and Jan Váňa the second assistant.

The referees' commission did not comment further on the exclusion of the two judges. “The referees violated the internal regulations and the referees' code of ethics for professional competitions. The referees' commission will not provide any further comments on the matter and the measures taken,” the commission said in a statement on the FAČR website.

The referees' code of ethics was introduced by the commission under the leadership of the new chairman Libor Kovařík, who replaced Radka Příhoda, from this season. It describes the principles of referees' behavior in professional competitions before, during and after the match. At the same time, it sets the boundary of conflict of interests and permitted and unauthorized contacts between judges and club representatives. Violation of the code is a disciplinary offence.

Orel was one of the most experienced referees on the current list of professional competitions. As the head referee, he officiated 124 matches in the highest competition, in 62 matches he was a video referee. He played his premiership in the league already in the 2011/12 season, this year he played in all three rounds.

In the past, Orel did not avoid mistakes and his delegation was limited several times. In the 2019/20 season, he had to miss practically the entire autumn, during which he was a video referee. The thirty-four-year-old referee also featured on the international list, similar to the thirty-seven-year-old Horák, who made his debut in the Czech league in the 2016/17 season. In the role of assistant, he has played 98 matches in the highest competition, in 39 matches he was an assistant video referee.