Martin Atkinson

Martin Atkinson

Atkinson in 2014
Full name	Martin Atkinson
Born	(1971-03-31) 31 March 1971 (age 54) Drighlington, West Riding of Yorkshire,[a] England
Other occupation	Teacher
Domestic
Years	League	Role
1998–2000	Football League	Assistant referee
2000–2003	Premier League	Assistant referee
2002–2003	Football Conference	Referee
2003–2005	Football League	Referee
2005–2022	Premier League	Referee
2022–present	Premier League	Referee coach
International
Years	League	Role
2006–2018	FIFA listed	Referee

Martin Atkinson (born 31 March 1971) is an English referee coach and retired professional football referee who officiated primarily in the Premier League. He is a member of the West Riding County Football Association.^[1]

Atkinson made his first appearance as an official in

Atkinson started his refereeing career at the relatively early age of 16 years, as the local team did not have a referee to oversee matches. By 1998, he had been promoted to the Football League's list of assistant referees.

This was followed in 2000 by promotion to the Select Group of assistant referees. By December 2002 he was refereeing Football Conference matches,^[3] and also refereed the 2003 FA County Youth Cup final.^[4]

At the start of the

Atkinson made his Premier League officiating debut on 18 September 2004 in a match between Crystal Palace and Manchester City.^{[citation needed]}

During the three seasons between 2003 and 2006, Atkinson issued only eight red cards in 102 matches, an average of less than 0.08 per game.

In 2006 Atkinson was appointed to the list of FIFA referees.^[5]

The 2009–10 season saw Atkinson referee 48 matches in English football, his highest tally of appointments in one season to date.

In September 2010, Atkinson was handed a one-week demotion to the role of fourth official after a time-keeping dispute with

On 22 May 2022, Atkinson was in charge of his final Premier league match, between Crystal Palace and Manchester United at Selhurst Park, which also happens to be the ground he made his debut 17 years ago.^{[citation needed]} At the time of his retirement, he had refereed 462 games in the Premier league, which is second highest in the competition, after Mike Dean's 560.^{[citation needed]}

Atkinson refereed the 2006 FA Community Shield match at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. Liverpool defeated Chelsea 2–1, with Atkinson issuing four yellow cards during the course of the game.^[7]

13 August 2006

Chelsea	1–2	Liverpool
Shevchenko 44' Ballack  7' Lampard  15' Diarra  68'	(Report)	Riise 9' Crouch 80' Alonso  61'

Millennium Stadium, Cardiff

Attendance: 56,275

Atkinson was appointed to referee the

10 May 2008

14:30

Ebbsfleet United	1–0	Torquay United
McCarthy Moore	(Report)	Rice

Wembley Stadium, London

Attendance: 40,186

Atkinson was appointed to officiate the 2011 FA Cup final. Manchester City defeated Stoke City 1–0; Atkinson issued two yellow cards to two Stoke players during the match.

14 May 2011

15:00

Manchester City	1–0	Stoke City
Y. Touré 74'	Report	Wilkinson  76' Huth  40'

Wembley Stadium, London

Attendance: 88,643

Atkinson refereed the 2014 Football League Cup final between Manchester City and Sunderland. City won the match 3–1 and Atkinson cautioned two players, both late in the second half.

2 March 2014

14:00

Manchester City	3–1	Sunderland
Touré 55' Nasri 56' Navas 90' Negredo  90'	Report	Alonso  90'

Wembley Stadium, London

Attendance: 84,697

On 13 October 2007, Atkinson refereed a group C qualifier for Euro 2008 between Moldova and Turkey. The game in the Moldovan capital Chişinău ended a 1–1 draw, with the referee showing two yellow cards.

The 2008–09 season was the first that Atkinson took charge of

Atkinson officiated multiple matches during 2010 FIFA World Cup Qualification, including the UEFA group 4 qualifying game between Germany and Finland in Hamburg on 14 October 2009 which ended 1–1.^[10] One month later, he officiated Portugal's 1–0 qualifying win over Bosnia and Herzegovina.

He officiated at Euro 2012 as an additional assistant referee in a team with referee Howard Webb.^[11]

The referee abandoned a Euro 2016 qualifying match in Belgrade between Serbia and Albania on 14 October 2014 when violence on the pitch and crowd disturbances broke out after a quadcopter was flown over the pitch bearing a flag of Greater Albania.^[12]

On 27 May 2015, Atkinson was in charge of the

Atkinson was born in Drighlington, West Riding of Yorkshire,^[a] but is now based near Leeds.

Season	Games	Total	per game	Total	per game
2002–03	9	28	3.11	3	0.33
2003–04	26	61	2.34	3	0.11
2004–05	38	87	2.28	3	0.07
2005–06	38	78	2.05	2	0.05
2006–07	42	128	3.04	6	0.14
2007–08	42	109	2.60	6	0.14
2008–09	40	135	3.38	11	0.28
2009–10	48	187	3.90	6	0.13
2010–11	41	143	3.49	13	0.32
2011–12	40	146	3.65	11	0.28
2012–13	36	133	3.69	1	0.03
2013–14	39	118	3.03	3	0.08
2014–15	48	193	4.02	11	0.23
2015–16	46	169	3.67	1	0.02
2016–17	43	146	3.40	3	0.07
2017–18	33	118	3.58	5	0.15
2018–19	34	110	3.24	2	0.06
2019–20	36	110	3.06	5	0.14
2020–21	30	71	2.37	2	0.07
2021–22	28	75	2.68	3	0.11
Total	737	2345	3.18	100	0.14

Statistics for all competitions. No records are available prior to 2002–03.^[16]

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Martin Atkinson.

• Refworld.com (archived)
• Martin Atkinson refereeing career statistics at
  Soccerbase
• Martin Atkinson^[usurped] at RateTheRef.net
• Martin Atkinson referee profile at EU-Football.info
• Martin Atkinson referee profile at WorldFootball.net

Preceded by Howard Webb	FA Community Shield referee 2006	Succeeded by Mark Halsey
Preceded by Chris Foy	2008	Succeeded by Michael Jones
Preceded by Chris Foy	2011	Succeeded by Phil Dowd
Preceded by Felix Brych	2015	Succeeded by Jonas Eriksson