Chris Kavanagh became a Select Group 1 referee for the 2017/18 season after working his way up the football pyramid.
The Manchester-born referee started officiating in 1998 as a 13-year-old, plying his trade in local football, before being promoted to take charge of matches in the National League in 2012.
Kavanagh refereed in the Football League regularly from the 2014/15 season and in 2016/17 he was the man in the middle on 27 occassions for the EFL Championship campaign.
Prior to his promotion to Select Group 1 status, Kavanagh made his Premier League debut in April 2017 as West Bromwich Albion lost to Southampton 1-0 at The Hawthorns, while he has been fourth official in the top flight on a number of occasions.
Kavanagh was also the fourth official for the League One Play-off Final between Scunthorpe United and Millwall at Wembley at the end of the 2016/17 season.
