Howard Webb

Howard Melton Webb MBE (born 14 July 1971) is an English former professional football referee who officiated primarily in the Premier League from 2003 to 2014, as well as for FIFA as a FIFA international referee from 2005 to 2014.

Webb is counted amongst the all-time top referees by the International Federation of Football History and Statistics and refereed a number of notable matches in England including the FA Cup final, the FA Community Shield and the final of the League Cup.

Webb first took up refereeing in local leagues in 1989.

In 1993, he progressed to the Northern Counties East League as an assistant referee, becoming a referee for that league two years later.

In 1996, he was appointed as a Football League assistant referee and, in 1998, fulfilled the same function in the Premier League, as well as being promoted to the Football Conference as a full referee.

He was a police officer with South Yorkshire Police but took sabbatical leave to concentrate on his refereeing.

In 2000, Webb was included on the National List of Football League referees and three years later was promoted to the Select Group of professional referees who can take charge of Premier League games.

His first game in the top tier of English football was on 18 October 2003 when he took charge of a 0–0 draw between Fulham and Wolverhampton Wanderers.

He was appointed to FIFA's international referees' list in 2005.

Since then, Webb has been appointed to referee some of world football's highest-profile matches, including a UEFA Champions League final and a FIFA World Cup final.

Webb officiated the 2005 Community Shield at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium, the annual match between the Premier League winners and the FA Cup winners of the previous season.

League winners Chelsea went 2–0 up through two Didier Drogba goals, but Cesc Fàbregas netted a goal for FA Cup winners Arsenal 25 minutes before the end.

It was a tense finale, but Chelsea held on to secure a 2–1 victory.

Webb issued three yellow cards (to Frank Lampard, Claude Makélélé and Fàbregas) in a game that saw 11 substitutions.

Webb's first international game was at Windsor Park, Belfast, in November 2005 when Northern Ireland hosted Portugal in a friendly match.

It ended 1–1 with the home side scoring both goals: Northern Ireland went 1–0 down just before half-time through a Stephen Craigan own goal but Warren Feeney salvaged a draw by netting in the second half.

Tony Capaldi, Keith Gillespie and James Quinn were booked for Northern Ireland.

In May 2006, Webb took charge of the FA Trophy final at Upton Park in London.

Grays Athletic beat Woking 2–0 through goals from Dennis Oli and Glenn Poole, both just before half-time.

No players found their way into the book.

The 2006 European Under-21 Championship qualifying rounds began in August 2004, with the finals taking place in Portugal in May and June 2006.

Webb officiated a group A match between France and Portugal, which the former won 1–0, and a Group B match between Italy and Ukraine, which the Italians won.

Webb also took charge of one of the two semi-finals, which saw Ukraine beat Serbia and Montenegro 5–4 on penalties after a 0–0 draw.

He was also appointed fourth official for the final in Porto, where the Netherlands beat Ukraine 3–0.

The 2007 Football League Cup final at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff was an incident-filled match.

The match ended with a brawl, with most of the players on the pitch becoming involved.

Managers José Mourinho and Arsène Wenger both entered the pitch in an attempt to calm the situation.

As a result of the mêlée, Webb sent off Mikel John Obi of Chelsea and Kolo Touré and Emmanuel Adebayor of Arsenal, and showed yellow cards to Frank Lampard and Cesc Fàbregas.

This was the first time that three red cards had been shown in a League Cup final.

Indeed, before this game, only three red cards had been shown in all of the previous finals.

Webb took charge of the 2009 FA Cup final, the 128th final of the world's oldest domestic football cup competition.

It was played at Wembley Stadium in London and was the third time that an FA Cup final had been staged at the stadium since it was rebuilt.

The match was contested by Chelsea and Everton, with Chelsea coming out on top to record their fifth FA Cup success.

Webb cautioned Mikel John Obi and Frank Lampard of Chelsea and Tony Hibbert, Phil Neville and Leighton Baines of Everton.

In 2010, he became the first person to referee the finals of both the UEFA Champions League and FIFA World Cup in the same year.

Throughout his professional career, Webb drew praise for his authoritative and respected approach to refereeing from football bodies, pundits, colleagues, players and managers.

He announced his retirement in August 2014 to become the technical director of the Professional Game Match Officials Board.

Webb was born to Sylvia and Billy Webb and grew up in Rotherham, Yorkshire.

His father was a referee for 35 years.

He went to Brinsworth Comprehensive School.