This Friday, as part of Matchday 2 of the 2025-2026 Ligue 1 season, second-place Paris Saint-Germain will face seventh-place Angers at the Parc des Princes (kick-off at 8:45 p.m., CET). The referee for the match has been chosen: Hakim Ben El Hadj, 47, has extensive experience in Ligue 1, having played 142 matches.
The referee will be assisted by Gwenaël Pasqualotti and Florian Goncalves De Araujo. Mickaël Leleu will serve as the fourth official. Mathieu Vernice and Mehdi Mokhtari will handle video assistance.
Yellow Cards –
With Mr. Ben El Hadj at the helm, we can expect yellow cards to come out almost “quietly” during the match. Indeed, while the national average per match is 3.53 (standard deviation of 0.27), Friday’s referee has issued an average of 3.80 yellow cards per match throughout his Ligue 1 career (Transfermarkt figures). This is a little higher than the average, but only slightly. As long as player protection is taken into account, so much the better.
Straight Red Cards –
The referee this Saturday is also a bit harsh on straight red cards. Indeed, Ben El Hadj has issued 0.11 sending-offs per match in his career, while the national average per match is 0.17 (standard deviation of 0.06). Therefore, there is no question of letting bad actions go unchallenged, nor of punishing in all directions.
Second Yellow Cards –
Abdelatif Kherradji sent off a player after his first yellow card in a Ligue 1 match an average of 0.08 times per game. The national average is 0.09 (standard deviation of 0.01). He is therefore average in this regard.
Penalties –
Finally, in terms of penalties, the man who called the whistle on Saturday was below average with 0.24 penalties awarded per match, while in Ligue 1 the average is 0.34 (standard deviation of 0.10).
