This Sunday, as part of matchday 5 of the 2025-2026 Ligue 1 season, Paris Saint-Germain (1st) will face Olympique de Marseille (7th) at the Stade Vélodrome (kick-off at 8:45 pm, CET). The referee for the match has been selected: Jérôme Brisard (39 years old). He has extensive experience in Ligue 1, having refereed 162 matches.
He will be assisted by Alexis Auger and Erwan Finjean. Ruddy Buquet will serve as the fourth official, and the video assistant referee team will consist of Bastien Dechepy and Yohann Rouinsard.
Yellow cards –
With Mr. Brisard in charge, we can expect a moderate number of yellow cards during the match. While the league average is 3.53 yellow cards per match (standard deviation of 0.39), the referee for Sunday’s match has issued an average of 3.48 yellow cards per match throughout his Ligue 1 career (Transfermarkt statistics). This is almost the average, but it’s important to note that this is due to good match control, not a tendency to overlook fouls.
Direct red cards –
The referee for Sunday’s match is stricter when it comes to direct red cards. Brisard has issued 0.252 red cards per match in his career, compared to the league average of 0.17 (standard deviation of 0.07). He will therefore not hesitate to punish serious fouls or misconduct.
Second yellow cards –
Jérôme Brisard does not have a habit of sending off players after their first yellow card in a Ligue 1 match. The league average is 0.09 (standard deviation of 0.03), while the referee for Sunday’s match has an average of 0.06. With few yellow cards but some red cards shown, we can hope that the referee’s management of the game was effective, with warnings used to calm tensions.
Penalties –
Finally, regarding penalties, the referee on duty this Sunday has a higher average number of penalties awarded per match (0.40) than the Ligue 1 average (0.34, with a standard deviation of 0.08).
