This Sunday, as part of Matchday 1 of the 2025-2026 Ligue 1 season, Paris Saint-Germain will face Nantes at the Stade de la Beaujoire (kick-off at 8:45 p.m., CET). The referee for the match has been chosen: Benoît Bastien (42 years old). He has extensive experience in Ligue 1, having played 258 matches.
The referee will be assisted by Hicham Zakrani and Aurélien Berthomieu. Jérémy Stinat will serve as fourth official. Video assistants will be Eric Wattelier and Julien Schmitt.
Yellow Cards –
With Mr. Bastien at the whistle, we can expect yellow cards to be issued fairly quickly during the match. Indeed, while the national average per match is 3.53 (standard deviation of 0.39), the match referee has given 3.93 yellows per match on average throughout his career in Ligue 1 (Transfermarkt figures). This is a little higher than the average, let’s hope that it is in good management and protection of the players, without forgetting the dialogue.
Straight Red Cards –
The whistleblower in this match is a bit harsh on the straight red cards. Indeed, Bastien has 0.18 sending-offs per game in his career, while the national average per game is 0.17 (standard deviation of 0.07). Therefore, there’s no question of letting bad actions go unchallenged, nor of punishing in all directions.
Second Yellow Cards –
Benoît Bastien doesn’t usually send off a player after his first yellow card in a Ligue 1 match. The national average is 0.09 (standard deviation of 0.03), and he’s issued 0.07 on average. With so many yellows and some reds at first, this is a bit of a surprise. Perhaps the first yellow helps calm the players down.
Penalties –
Finally, regarding penalties, the whistleblower is lower than average with 0.33 penalties awarded per match, while in Ligue 1 the average is 0.34 (standard deviation of 0.08).
