42 Facts About Howard Webb

Howard Melton Webb MBE was born on 14 July 1971 and is an English former professional football referee who officiated primarily in the Premier League from 2003 to 2014, as well as for FIFA as a FIFA international referee from 2005 to 2014.

Howard Webb announced his retirement in August 2014 to become the technical director of the Professional Game Match Officials Board.

Howard Webb was born to Sylvia and Billy Howard Webb and grew up in Rotherham, Yorkshire.

Howard Webb first took up refereeing in local leagues in 1989.

Howard Webb was a police officer with South Yorkshire Police but took sabbatical leave to concentrate on his refereeing.

In 2000, Howard Webb was included on the National List of Football League referees and three years later was promoted to the Select Group of professional referees who can take charge of Premier League games.

Howard Webb was appointed to FIFA's international referees' list in 2005.

Since then, Howard Webb has been appointed to referee some of world football's highest-profile matches, including a UEFA Champions League final and a FIFA World Cup final.

Howard Webb officiated the 2005 Community Shield at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium, the annual match between the Premier League winners and the FA Cup winners of the previous season.

Howard Webb issued three yellow cards in a game that saw 11 substitutions.

In May 2006, Howard Webb took charge of the FA Trophy final at Upton Park in London.

Howard Webb took charge of the 2009 FA Cup final, the 128th final of the world's oldest domestic football cup competition.

Howard Webb cautioned Mikel John Obi and Frank Lampard of Chelsea and Tony Hibbert, Phil Neville and Leighton Baines of Everton.

Howard Webb was selected to officiate at the 2007 U-20 World Cup in Canada and his first appointment was a Group D match between Poland and Brazil at Montreal's Olympic Stadium.

Howard Webb then took charge of a group C game between Mexico and Portugal at the National Soccer Stadium in Toronto and a group A match between Canada and Congo at the Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton.

In December 2007, Howard Webb was selected as England's representative to referee at UEFA Euro 2008, with Darren Cann and Michael Mullarkey as his assistants.

Howard Webb said that "the penalty was clear and I hope that people later will look at it and realise it was the only decision that could be taken".

Howard Webb later admitted he had made "a mistake" but had awarded the penalty "honestly".

In May 2010, Howard Webb was announced as the referee for the 2010 Champions League final at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium in Madrid.

Howard Webb showed yellow cards to Martin Demichelis and Mark van Bommel of Bayern Munich and cautioned Cristian Chivu of Inter Milan.

In December 2011, Howard Webb was named one of the 12 referees selected by UEFA to take charge of games at Euro 2012.

Howard Webb was selected as a referee for the 2013 Confederations Cup in Brazil.

On 24 October 2008, FIFA announced that Howard Webb was on the provisional list of referees for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa and later confirmed that Howard Webb had been selected as a referee for the finals.

Howard Webb refereed the World Cup final between the Netherlands and Spain.

Howard Webb was assisted by Darren Cann and Michael Mullarkey in Johannesburg's Soccer City stadium.

Howard Webb issued 14 yellow cards, including two to the Netherlands' John Heitinga who was sent off, more than doubling the former record of six yellows for a World Cup final, set in 1986.

The Dutch were criticised for their rough play, and some thought Howard Webb was generous for not showing any red cards to the Dutch players until ten minutes before the end of extra time.

Howard Webb later conceded that had he had a better viewing angle of a high challenge from Nigel de Jong he would have sent him off, and De Jong later admitted he was "lucky" to only receive a yellow card.

FIFA president Sepp Blatter defended Howard Webb, noting that it was "not easy" to control such a match.

Howard Webb took charge of three qualifiers for the 2014 World Cup.

Howard Webb refereed the UEFA qualification group D match between Turkey and Romania in October 2012 in Istanbul, the Group E match between Norway and Switzerland in September 2013 in Oslo and the Group A match between Croatia and Belgium in October 2013 in Zagreb.

In January 2014, it was announced that Howard Webb had been included on the referees' list for the finals in Brazil.

On 6 August 2014, the Premier League announced that Howard Webb had retired from active refereeing in order to take up the role of technical director of the Professional Game Match Officials Board.

Howard Webb then became director of referees for the Saudi Arabian Football Federation, while joining BT Sport as an analyst.

Howard Webb refereed 296 Premier League matches, 43 in the FA Cup, 36 in the Champions League, 19 in the EFL Cup, 6 in World Cups, 5 in European Championships, and 4 in Confederations Cups.

Howard Webb has once shown three red cards in the same match: the 2007 Football League Cup Final.

Howard Webb is in a relationship with Bibiana Steinhaus, a German Bundesliga referee, whom he married in March 2021.

Howard Webb was a sergeant in the South Yorkshire Police before turning professional as a referee.

Howard Webb was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire in the 2011 New Year Honours for services to football.

In June 2011, Howard Webb was made president of the Baris Northern Counties East Football League, a league in which he had once officiated.

Howard Webb began his career in policing in 1993 and took a five-year career break in 2008 to focus on refereeing.

Howard Webb returned to the South Yorkshire Police in April 2013.