Two drunk referees caught stealing road sign with pair taken off Rangers Champions League qualifier while 'improper behaviour' is investigated

UEFA had to find replacement VAR officials for Rangers' Champions League qualifier against Dynamo Kyiv on Tuesday evening after the initial selection and his assistant were axed from the game following their antics while drunk. Experienced Polish official Bartosz Frankowski and his backup Tomasz Musial were caught stealing a road sign in the early hours of the morning and were arrested by police, according to TVP Sport.

Frankowski, Musial and a third individual were taken to a sobering-up centre in Poland after police found them with over 1.5 per milligrams of alcohol in their blood. UEFA decided to remove the referees for the fixture, with Tomasz Kwiatkowski taking over VAR duties and Pawel Malec becoming his assistant.

Frankowski, 37, is one of Poland's top officials and officiated at both Euro 2020 and Euro 2024. He was a VAR at the tournament in Germany.

Rangers are attempting to qualify for the Champions League, having missed out on the group stage last season. Philippe Clement's side take on Ukrainian outfit Dynamo Kyiv across two legs, with the return fixture against Ibrox to come on August 13.