Chris Beath is an Australian former FIFA referee, who retired in June 2023, after the A-League Grand Final. The 38-year-old referee made his A-League debut on 28 September 2008 in the match between Wellington Phoenix FC and Sydney FC and retired with a record number of A-League/A-League Men matches refereed, and fifth all time in men's national league history. His 15-year national league career ended with his fourth consecutive appointment as referee for the A-League/A-League Men's Grand Final, in addition to refereeing the inaugural FFA Cup (now Australia Cup) Final in 2014, an achievement that a referee is only provided once in their career. Having been included on the FIFA International List of Referees in 2011, Beath was added to the AFC Elite Match Official Panel in 2013, regularly officiating matches in the AFC Champions League, as well as qualifiers for the AFC Asian Cup and FIFA World Cup. Across a 13-year international career, Beath refereed at two AFC Asian Cups in 2015 and 2019, two AFC U-23 Championships in 2018 and 2020 (including the 2020 Final), the FIFA U-17 World Cup in 2019, and was a video match official at the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup. The past four years saw Beath’s international achievements progress even further, with him refereeing the men’s Gold Medal Match at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics (Brazil v Spain), the Final of the 2021 FIFA Club World Cup (Chelsea FC v Palmeiras) and being appointed to the FIFA World Cup in Qatar 2022.
AFC Referees Special Award 2023
Chris Beath (AUS) – Referee
Ashley Beecham (AUS) - Assistant Referee
Anton Shchetinin (AUS) - Assistant Referee
Ammar Aljneibi (UAE) - Video Assistant Referee
Source: AFC
