Premier League Match Officials
What is Pro Ref?
Professional Game Referees (Pro Ref) is the body that oversees all Premier League, English Football League (EFL), WSL Football and Football Association (FA) competitions.
Funded by the competitions it serves, Pro Ref works in collaboration with them to deliver a long-term match-officiating strategy, under the leadership of Chief Refereeing Officer Howard Webb and Chief Operating Officer Danielle Every.
This strategy is focused on continually enhancing officiating and broadening the pool of high-performing match officials, ensuring the professional game has access to the best referees and assistant referees in England.
Increased funding from the Premier League, EFL, The FA and WSL Football as part of a new three-year agreement will build on the progress made through the Premier League-driven Elite Referee Development Plan (ERDP). This has delivered enhanced coaching and performance support for match officials working in an environment focused on high performance.
The ERDP - due to enter its fifth year of significant funding - has enabled Pro Ref to put a more modern and dynamic pathway in place, which will continue to provide opportunities to those who are ready to officiate across the various levels of the professional game.
That funding will also see further investment in supporting and accelerating the next generation of talent with an emphasis on a revamped Development Group and the CORE X programme, as well as educating and providing a stronger understanding of officiating to Academy players. These initiatives will continue to complement The FA’s model across grassroots and semi-professional levels while strengthening the refereeing pathway both now and in the future.
Signalling a new chapter for professional refereeing in England, the change from Professional Game Match Officials (PGMO) to Professional Game Referees (Pro Ref) underpins this period of ongoing transformation for the organisation albeit with the same aim – to deliver the highest possible standards of refereeing in this country for the benefit of the game.
Match officials in the Premier League
For 2026/27, a newly created Professional Referee Group will service the Premier League and EFL Championship, creating both greater competition and flexibility to appoint and recognise high-performing match officials. This selected group has been formed following the merging of the previous Select Group 1, 2 and its supplementary list.
The Professional Referee Group meets regularly in person and online to share learning and reflect on decisions. Training and preparation has evolved to meet the demands of the modern game and is more targeted and demanding. Behind every referee and assistant referee is a multi-disciplinary team of experts, working together to ensure that the officials can perform at their best week-in, week-out. Across sports science, psychology, performance analysis and coaching support, the focus is holistic preparation - creating a framework that reflects the high-performance environment of the professional game and equipping officials with the clarity, resilience and physical readiness as they move from one fixture to the next.
Performance is measured by an independent Key Match Incidents (KMIs) panel which is made up of five members including former players and coaches, alongside one representative from the Premier League and another from Pro Ref. Its goal is to provide an independent assessment of decision-making during matches and it sits every week to review major incidents and assess the outcomes of on-field and VAR decisions.
What role does Pro Ref play in international football?
Thirty-seven Pro Ref match officials are on the FIFA International List of Match Officials. This is a global register of referees, assistant referees and video match officials who are qualified to officiate at an international level in FIFA competitions. Officials on this list are entitled to wear the FIFA badge for the year they are enlisted.
Pro Ref Appointments Policy 2026/27 (Download PDF 90KB)