Irfan Peljto (born 18 July 1984) is a Bosnian professional football referee who officiates primarily in the

Bosnian Premier League The Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina (; ; sr-Cyrl, Премијер лига Босне и Херцеговине), officially known as the Wwin League of Bosnia and Herzegovina for sponsorship purposes, is the top tier football leagu ...

. He has been a

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

referee since 2015, and is ranked as a

UEFA The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...

elite category referee. Peljto is the only Bosnian referee to have officiated any

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

group stage or knockout phase match. He is also the only referee from Bosnia and Herzegovina to have officiated any UEFA club competition final.

Refereeing career

In 2013, Peljto began officiating in the

. His first match as referee was on 27 July 2013 between

Rudar Prijedor Fudbalski klub Rudar Prijedor (Serbian Cyrillic: Фудбалски клуб Pудаp Пpиjeдop) is a professional football club from the city of Prijedor that is situated in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Rudar plays in the Premier League of Bosnia ...

and Radnik Bijeljina. In 2015, he was put on the FIFA referees list. He officiated his first senior international match on 8 June 2019 between

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

and

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...

. On 24 November 2021, Peljto officiated his first

group stage match between

Beşiktaş Beşiktaş () is a district and municipality of Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its area is 18 km2 and its population is 175,190 (2022). It is located on the European shore of the Bosphorus strait. It is bordered on the north by Sarıyer and ...

and

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * Ajax (play), ''Ajax'' (play), by the an ...

, becoming the first referee from Bosnia and Herzegovina to officiate a UEFA Champions League match. He officiated his first ever Champions League knockout phase game between

RB Leipzig RasenBallsport Leipzig e.V. (), commonly known as RB Leipzig or informally as Red Bull Leipzig, is a German professional association football, football club based in Leipzig, Saxony. The club was founded in 2009 by the initiative of the company ...

and

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

on 13 February 2024. In April 2025, Peljto refereed the first leg of the Champions League quarter-final between

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

and Real Madrid. On 12 May 2025, he was selected to officiate the

2025 UEFA Conference League final The 2025 UEFA Conference League final was the final match of the 2024–25 UEFA Conference League, the fourth season of Europe's tertiary club association football, football tournament organised by UEFA, and the first season since it was renamed f ...

between

Real Betis Real Betis Balompié, known as Real Betis () is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Seville, Andalusia, Spain. It plays in La Liga, the Spanish football league system, top flight of Spanish football. It plays home ...

and Chelsea, which was held on 28 May 2025, at the

Wrocław Stadium Wrocław Stadium (), known for sponsorship reasons as Tarczyński Arena Wrocław since 2021, is a UEFA stadium categories, UEFA Category Four association football stadium built for the UEFA Euro 2012, 2012 UEFA European Football Championship. The ...

Wrocław Wrocław is a city in southwestern Poland, and the capital of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship. It is the largest city and historical capital of the region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the Oder River in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Eu ...

, becoming the first Bosnian referee to officiate a UEFA club competition final.

References

External links

* * * Irfan Peljto {{DEFAULTSORT:Peljto, Irfan 1984 births Living people Sportspeople from Sarajevo Bosnia and Herzegovina football referees UEFA Europa League referees UEFA Champions League referees