The French Football Federation has unveiled the referees appointed for the 31st day of the 2024/2025 season of Ligue 1. To lead the match between Olympique de Marseille (7th) and AS Saint-Étienne (17th), the federation chose Benoît Bastien, an experienced referee aged 42. Last year, he finished second in the ranking of first division arbitrators. This designation marks a first for the AS Saint-Étienne with Benoît Bastien as central arbitrator. On the other hand, the Olympique de Marseille will find the referee from Epinal for the third time this season, after the meetings Nice/Strasbourg (2-1) and Toulouse/Strasbourg (1-2). This season, Benoît Bastien played 28 games in different competitions: Ligue 1, Champions League, Europa League, Nations League, Saudi Pro League, Ligue 2… In 15 Ligue 1 meetings, he distributed 65 yellow cards (an average of 4.33 per match), a second warning, a red card and whistled 10 penalties. Since the beginning of his career, Benoît Bastien has arbitrated the Greens 31 times, making him the seventh team he most often led in Ligue 1. His first encounter with AS Saint-Étienne was on 1 October 2011 against Auxerre. His last intervention was on 20 April 2022 in a match against Bordeaux.