Ovidiu Hatcegan was one of the strongest Romanian referees, but he suffered a heart attack in March 2022 and has not served the center since then (he was in the VAR room).

Ovidiu Hatcegan took charge of UTA Arad’s friendly match more than a year after suffering a heart attack

The career of Ovidiu Burke, one of Romania’s best centre-backs, was put in jeopardy in March 2022 after he suffered a heart attack.

Since then, Khatsegan has not missed a single match, although he regularly participated in Champions League matches and beyond.

Ovidiu Hatcegan has recently started preparing for his return to the pitch, and so far he has been phase after phase in the VAR room during Romanian Superliga matches.

On Thursday, more than a year after that unfortunate event, Hatsegan refereed a football match for the first time. The central coach was in charge of a friendly match between UTA Arad and the Arad U18 team, and Claudio Caeseru presented him with his game shirt.

“Today the senior team played a school game against the club’s U18 team. The match was served by Ovidiu Hatcegan, who returned to the field after a long period. We thank him for his positive response to our invitation and are happy to see him back doing what he loves.” – wrote those from UTA Arad.