Michael Oliver (born 20 February 1985) is an English professional

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

Ashington Ashington is a town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, with a population of 27,864 at the 2011 Census. It was once a centre of the coal mining industry. The town is north of Newcastle upon Tyne, west of the A189 and bordered to the ...

, Northumberland. His county FA is the

Northumberland Football Association The Northumberland Football Association is a Sport governing body, governing body in the historic counties of England, historic county of Northumberland, England. The association was formed in 1883. It is responsible for the governance and dev ...

. He belongs to the Select Group of Referees in England and officiates primarily in the

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

. He received his FIFA badge in 2012, allowing him to officiate in major international matches. Oliver was appointed to take charge of the final of the 2015 FIFA U-17 World Cup. Oliver was promoted to the

UEFA The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...

Elite Group of Referees in 2018.

Refereeing career

Born in

, Northumberland, Oliver was introduced to refereeing by his father, Clive, at the age of 14. He quickly progressed through the ranks and was promoted to the National List of Referees in 2007; he refereed the 2007 Conference National play-off final, becoming the youngest football referee to officiate at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium, currently branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE Limited, EE for sponsorship reasons, is an association football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Sta ...

. In addition he had already become the youngest

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

assistant 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 ...

, youngest Football League referee, and would also become the youngest

fourth official In association football, an assistant referee (also known as a linesman) is an official who assists the referee in administering the Laws of the Game during a match. Although assistants are not required under the Laws, at most organised levels ...

in the

. The Oliver family enjoyed a unique refereeing double when father Clive took charge of the 2009 League Two play-off final and Michael officiated the next day at the 2009 League One play-off final. Oliver was set to become the youngest referee in the Premier League when he was appointed to a match between

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies in a loop on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...

and

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

in January 2010. However, adverse weather resulted in him having to postpone the match, and an ankle operation later sidelined him until April. He was promoted to the Select Group in August 2010, his first appointment being

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. The team compete in the ...

versus Blackburn Rovers. Oliver was 25 years and 182 days old, breaking Stuart Attwell's record as the youngest-ever Premier League referee. Oliver was appointed fourth official for the 2013 League Cup final at Wembley Stadium. He refereed the FA Cup semi-final between

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, they have p ...

and Millwall in April 2013 and in doing so became the youngest referee to take charge of an FA Cup semi-final. Wigan went on to win the FA Cup and played

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

in the subsequent

FA Community Shield The Football Association Community Shield (formerly the Charity Shield) is Football in England, English football's annual match contested at Wembley Stadium between the champions of the previous Premier League season and the holders of the FA ...

match in which Oliver was assigned as fourth official. He was the referee for the 2014 FA Community Shield between

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

and

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

. The FA Cup holders Arsenal won the match 3–0. Oliver refereed three group stage matches in the 2016–17 UEFA Champions League, his first being

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP or simply Sporting (particularly within Portugal), or as Sporting Lisbon in other countries,

against

Legia Warsaw Legia Warszawa (), commonly referred to as Legia Warsaw or simply Legia, is a professional football club based in Warsaw, Poland. Legia is the most successful Polish football club in history, winning a record 15 champions titles, a record 2 ...

in September 2016. On 11 April 2018, Oliver refereed the second leg of the 2017–18 UEFA Champions League quarter-final between

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

and

Juventus Juventus Football Club (; from , ), commonly known as Juventus or colloquially as Juve (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Turin, Piedmont, who compete in Serie A, the ...

. Real Madrid won the first leg 3–0 in

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

, which meant Juventus would have to win 3–0 in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

to take the match to

extra time Overtime (OT) or extra time (ET) is an additional period of play to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played only if the game is required t ...

. Juventus led 3–0 until the 93rd minute, when Oliver awarded an injury time penalty to Real Madrid after

Medhi Benatia Medhi Amine El Mouttaqi BenatiaThough the traditional Arabic spelling is "Mehdi", he spells his name "Medhi". See, for examplehis Twitter accountLucas Vázquez in the box. Juventus players swarmed Oliver, with veteran goalkeeper and captain

Gianluigi Buffon Gianluigi Buffon (; born 28 January 1978) is an Italian former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper. Widely regarded as one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time, he is ...

at the centre of the confrontation, receiving a red card for verbal abuse. Oliver also issued nine yellow cards during the match. Second goalkeeper Wojciech Szczęsny was forced to be substituted in, with the resulting penalty kick converted by

Cristiano Ronaldo Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro (; born 5 February 1985) is a Portuguese professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward for and Captain (association football), captains both Saudi Pr ...

in the 98th minute, for a final 4–3 aggregate win for Real Madrid to advance to the semi-final. Several days later the

police The police are Law enforcement organization, a constituted body of Law enforcement officer, people empowered by a State (polity), state with the aim of Law enforcement, enforcing the law and protecting the Public order policing, public order ...

investigated threatening text messages sent to Oliver's wife, Lucy, who had her mobile number posted on social media after the game, which led to the abusive texts. They also looked into reports of banging on the front door of their home and shouting abuse through their letterbox. On 11 May, Buffon was charged by

over post-match comments made about Oliver, with the UEFA Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Body giving Buffon a three-match ban for UEFA competition matches "for which he would be otherwise eligible", on 5 June. On 26 March 2019, Oliver was appointed to referee in the 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

, with Simon Bennett and Stuart Burt serving as his assistant referees. Oliver officiated 3 matches at the tournament, including a group A clash between Senegal and Colombia, a round of 16 clash between Uruguay and Ecuador, and a semi-final between Ecuador and South Korea. Oliver officiated the 2021 FA Cup Final on 15 May 2021, between Chelsea and Leicester City. In a May 2022

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

pronouncement, Oliver was listed as one of six English officials to oversee matches at that November and December's

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

. The list also included referee Anthony Taylor and four compatriot assistant referees—Simon Bennett, Gary Beswick, Stuart Burt, and Adam Nunn. On 10 August 2022, he was the referee for the 2022 UEFA Super Cup between

Eintracht Frankfurt Eintracht Frankfurt e.V. () is a German professional sports club based in Frankfurt, Hesse. It is best known for its football club, which was founded on 8 March 1899. The club currently plays in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the German footb ...

and

. On 18 April 2023, he refereed a match between Al Hilal and Al Nassr in the

Saudi Pro League The Saudi Pro League (SPL), also known as the Roshn Saudi League (RSL) for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Saudi Arabia and the highest level of the Saudi football league system. The SPL is regarded as th ...

. In September 2023, he refereed a match between Sharjah FC and

Al Ain FC Al Ain Football Club (; Arabic transliteration, transliterated: Nady al-'Ayn) is a professional Football team, football club based in the city of Al Ain, Abu Dhabi (emirate), Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. It is one of many sport sections of ...

for the UAE Pro League. In January 2025, police in the UK launched an investigation after Oliver was subjected to threats following him issuing a controversial red card to Arsenal's Myles Lewis-Skelly during a fixture against

Wolverhampton Wolverhampton ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands of England. Located around 12 miles (20 km) north of Birmingham, it forms the northwestern part of the West Midlands conurbation, with the towns of ...

. Following the incident, the PGMOL said they were "appalled" by the threats and said "a number of investigations have commenced."

List of refereed domestic finals

References

External links

Refworld.comMichael Oliver Referee Statistics
at

soccerbase ''Racing Post'' is a British daily horse racing, greyhound racing, and sports betting publisher published in print and digital formats. It is printed in tabloid format from Monday to Sunday. , it has an average daily circulation of 60,629 cop ...

.com
Michael Oliver {{DEFAULTSORT:Oliver, Michael English football referees UEFA Champions League referees UEFA Europa League referees 1985 births Living people Sportspeople from Ashington Premier League referees FA Cup final referees UEFA Euro 2020 referees UEFA Euro 2024 referees 2022 FIFA World Cup referees

Refereeing career

List of refereed domestic finals

See also

References

External links