This Saturday, as part of the 30th day of Ligue 1 2024-2025, Paris Saint-Germain (1st) take on Le Havre (16th) at the Parc des Princes (kick-off 5pm, broadcast on beIN SPORTS). The referee for the match has been chosen: Mathieu Vernice (31). He has a wealth of experience under his belt in Ligue 1, with 40 matches to his name.
The man with the whistle will be assisted by Florian Goncalves and Julien Garrigues. Mickael Leleu will be the 4th referee. Video assistance will be provided by Wilfried Bien and Julien Schmitt.
Yellow cards –
With Mr. Vernice at the whistle, we can expect yellow cards to fall very easily during the match. Indeed, while the national average per match is 3.53 (standard deviation 0.39), Saturday’s referee has given an average of 4.08 yellows per match throughout his career in Ligue 1 (Transfermarkt figures). That’s very high, but let’s hope it’s not without dialogue.
Direct red cards –
The man on the whistle on Saturday was also harsh on direct red cards. Indeed, Vernice is at 0.23 exclusions per match in his career, while the national average per match is 0.17 (standard deviation 0.07). Clearly, the players will have to be very careful.
Second yellow cards –
Mathieu Vernice also has a habit of sending players off after their first yellow card in a match, as he issued a second warning to the same player an average of 0.10 times per match. This is higher than the national average of 0.09 (standard deviation 0.03). Given our other carding habits, this is hardly surprising.
Penalties –
Finally, as far as penalties are concerned, the man at the whistle on Saturday is once again above average, with 0.40 penalties whistled per match, compared with the Ligue 1 average of 0.34 (standard deviation 0.08).
