Matthew Conger (born 11 October 1978) is a retired New Zealand

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

referee A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other title ...

from

Palmerston North Palmerston North (; , colloquially known as Palmerston or Palmy) is a city in the North Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Manawatū-Whanganui region. Located in the eastern Manawatū Plains, the city is near the north bank of the Manaw ...

. Born in

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

, United States, Conger operated in the Australian

A-League A-League Men, also known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional soccer league in Australia and New Zealand and the highest level of the Australian soccer league system. Established in 2004 as the A-League by the ...

and the

New Zealand Football Championship The New Zealand Football Championship () was a men's association football league at the top of the New Zealand league system. Founded in 2004, the New Zealand Football Championship was the successor to a myriad of short-lived football leagues in ...

. He is a former school teacher from Palmerston North who now works for Sport Manawatu.

Refereeing career

Conger began refereeing in the United States as a teenager, continuing after moving to New Zealand in his early 20s. Conger has refereed at the 2015 Under-20 World Cup in New Zealand, the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, the 2017 Under-20 World Cup in South Korea, the

2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded t ...

in Russia, and the

2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup was the 22nd FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

in Qatar. He has also officiated in numerous A-League and New Zealand Football Championship games. He has also been the man in the middle for OFC Champions League games. In 2016, Conger left full-time teaching in order to concentrate more on his refereeing, but in 2017 was engaged part-time at Palmerston North's Carncot School. In 2017, Conger was named the New Zealand referee of the year.

FIFA World Cup

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Conger, Matthew 1978 births Living people New Zealand association football referees A-League Men referees New Zealand schoolteachers 2018 FIFA World Cup referees 2022 FIFA World Cup referees Football referees at the 2016 Summer Olympics