Borg to referee match in Albania

FIFA international referee Marco Borg has been appointed to control the UEFA Europa League match between KS Vllaznia and Sligo Rovers on Thursday.

The match, the second leg from the first qualifying round of the competition, is being played in Shkodra, Albania.

Borg will be accompanied by Ingmar Spiteri and Mariano Debono as assistant referees and Kevin Azzopardi as fourth official.

The first leg in Ireland was won by KS Vllaznia 2-1.

Meanwhile, it has been confirmed that the experiment involving five match officials will continue in the Europa League group stage in September.

The test follows the approval of the FIFA Executive Committee at its May meeting in Nassau, Bahamas. In addition to the match referee and two assistant referees on the touchline, two extra assistants are placed behind the goal-line, with the mission of focusing on incidents that happen in the penalty area, such as fouls or misconduct.

The initial experiment with two additional assistant referees was conducted at the European U-19 Championship mini-tournaments late last year, and feedback was positive from both match officials and observers, UEFA said.

The Europa League experiment will start on September 17 in the group games, and will carry on through just over 200 matches.

Sliema Wanderers

The first leg of the Europa League second qualifying round match between Sliema Wanderers and Israel's Maccabi Netanya, has been brought forward to Tuesday, July 14.

Sliema, who skipped the first qualifying round as they are the country's cup winners, were origin-ally drawn to play the home tie on July 16.

However, on that same date Sliema will be to take part in a one-day tournament commemorating the club's 100th anniversary at the Tedesco Stadium. One of their opponents will be English Champ-ionship side Sheffield Wednesday.