The only referee to take charge of a Champions League and World Cup final in the same year
FootballHoward Webb is arguably the most accomplished referee England has ever produced, and certainly the only one whose name most supporters can remember without looking it up.
A former police sergeant from Rotherham, Webb took the whistle professionally in 1993 and reached the Premier League list in 2003. Seven years later he made history, becoming the first and so far only referee to take charge of the UEFA Champions League final and the FIFA World Cup final in the same calendar year, both in 2010. The World Cup final between Spain and Netherlands in Johannesburg was one of the most difficult matches any referee has ever attempted, and he emerged with his authority intact.
After retiring from the middle in 2014, Webb moved into administration with PGMOL, then ran Major League Soccer's refereeing operation in the United States, where he introduced VAR to the American game. In 2022 he returned to English football as Chief Refereeing Officer for PGMOL, the role that now makes him the public face of Premier League officiating.
As a speaker he brings the view from the other side of the game, the preparation, the pressure, the big decisions, and the thousand small ones nobody notices. It is football seen from inside the storm, delivered with the calmness of the man who was expected to settle it.
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