Five new officials from England added to FIFA referee list

Five new match officials from England have been added to the FIFA International List for 2024.

Georgia Ball, Nicoleta Bria, Sophie Dennington, Emily Heaslip and James Mainwaring all now feature on the approved list of match officials for the forthcoming year, which stands at a total of 36 for the roles of referee, assistant referee and video match officials.

In the past 18 months, we have launched a new strategy for refereeing and PGMOL has implemented the Elite Referee Development Plan to ensure world class referees are being developed through the pathway from grassroots to elite, so that the game is officiated at the highest possible standards and refereeing thrives both now, and in the future.

The latest FIFA List for 2024 follows a landmark year for match officials in England, with over 500 appointments achieved on the global stage. 

England have been represented at a number of major tournaments and been selected to deliver the showpiece events throughout the year, including the UEFA Europa League and FIFA Club World Cup finals by Anthony Taylor, Gary Beswick and Adam Nunn, while Emily Carney was appointed as an assistant referee for the UEFA Women’s European Under-19 Championship final and David Coote as the Support VAR for the FIFA U17 World Cup final.

Furthermore, Rebecca Welch, Natalie Aspinall and Sian Massey-Ellis MBE were selected for the FIFA Women’s World Cup and were part of the team who took charge of the third-place play-off match.

This is alongside the group of officials consistently appearing for EURO 2024 qualifiers, UEFA Women’s Nations League fixtures as well the Conference League, Europa League and Champions League – the latter in both the men’s and women’s game.

Peter Elsworth, the FA’s head of referee operations said: “Our congratulations go to all of the match officials from England who will be representing on the international stage this year. It’s testament to their hard work and dedication that they’ve been selected, and we hope it will inspire many more young people to get into refereeing and experiencing the many benefits that it brings.”

Howard Webb, chief refereeing officer at PGMOL, said: “Our match officials are repeatedly entrusted with important high-profile FIFA and UEFA fixtures and we congratulate all of them as they prepare to represent England on the international stage in 2024, in particular newcomers Georgia, Nicoleta, Sophie, Emily and James.

"The enhanced list demonstrates the quality we have across the variety of officiating roles – something which will we hope will continue to inspire the next generation to be part of the game we all love.”

The full FIFA List of officials from England for 2024 can be found below:

FIFA Referees List

Stuart Attwell
John Brooks
Abi Byrne
Kirsty Dowle
Darren England
Jarred Gillett
Emily Heaslip
Robert Jones
Chris Kavanagh
Andrew Madley
Michael Oliver
Craig Pawson
Stacey Pearson
Anthony Taylor
Rebecca Welch

FIFA Assistant Referees List

Natalie Aspinall
Georgia Ball
Simon Bennett
Gary Beswick
Lee Betts
Nicoleta Bria
Stuart Burt
Emily Carney
Dan Cook
Neil Davies
Sophie Dennington
Ian Hussin
Harry Lennard
James Mainwaring
Sian Massey-Ellis
Lucy-Anne McCann
Adam Nunn
Lisa Rashid

FIFA Video Match Officials

Stuart Attwell
Peter Bankes
Lee Betts
David Coote
Darren England
Jarred Gillett
Chris Kavanagh
Andrew Madley
Sian Massey-Ellis
Craig Pawson
Michael Salisbury

Men’s FIFA Futsal Referees List

Oliver Ballinger
Marc Birkett
Peter Nurse