A unique situation occurred last weekend in the English Premier League: seven of the referees appointed for matchday 2 were older than 45! Although FIFA recently removed the mandatory age limit for international referees, the average age (43) of the Premier League referees is very uncommon, especially for the top European leagues. The oldest English referee is Roger East (photo), who will celebrate his 53rd birthday next year! Last weekend he refereed his 63rd match in the Premier League (Bournemouth – Watford). This week, on matchday 3, the average age of the referees will be 42.5 years.
The current list of active Premier League Select Group referees:
1. Martin Atkinson (46 years, FIFA) – EPL since 2004, 321 matches
2. Robert Madley (31 years, FIFA) – EPL since 2013, 74 matches
3. Andre Marriner (46 years, FIFA) – EPL since 2004, 256 matches
4. Jonathan Moss (46 years) – EPL since 2010, 145 matches
5. Craig Pawson (38 years, FIFA) – EPL since 2012, 86 matches
6. Anthony Taylor (38 years, FIFA) – EPL since 2009, 169 matches
7. Mike Dean (49 years, ex-FIFA) – EPL since 2000, 430 matches
8. Roger East (52 years) – EPL since 2012, 63 matches
9. Kevin Friend (46 years) – EPL since 2009, 159 matches
10. Mike Jones (49 years) – EPL since 2008, 191 matches
11. Lee Mason (45 years, ex-FIFA) – EPL since 2005, 224 matches
12. Michael Oliver (32 years, FIFA) – EPL since 2010, 174 matches
13. Lee Probert (45 years, ex-FIFA) – EPL since 2006, 152 matches
14. Neil Swarbrick (47 years) – EPL since 2010, 111 matches
15. Graham Scott (47 years) – EPL since 2014, 13 matches
16. Stuart Attwell (31 years, ex-FIFA) – EPL since 2008, 59 matches
17. Chris Kavanagh (32 years) – EPL since 2017, 1 match
Other countries
In Germany, the average age of the 24 Bundesliga referees is 34.5 years. They are required to retire from active refereeing at 47, after which they could only continue as VARs, as it happened this summer with Stark, Drees and Perl.
The average age of Ligue 1 referees is 36 years. After the recent retirement of Lannoy, Fautrel, Kalt, Ennjimi and Jaffredo, only Chapron is still active from their generation. Although there is no official age limit, French referees between the ages of 43-46 are encouraged to retire through a special severance pay offered for voluntary retirement.
Spanish La Liga is the strictest with their referees, imposing mandatory retirement at 45. In 2016, Velasco Carballo had to end his domestic career one month before refereeing at Euro in France. The average age of the current first division referees in 34.5 years.
Source: Arbitrage57