Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) is the body responsible for refereeing games in English professional association football. Formerly known as the Professional Game Match Officials Board (PGMOB), the PGMOL was formed when English referees became professional in 2001, to provide officials for all games played in the Premier League, English Football League (EFL) and Football Association (FA) competitions. In doing so, England became the first country in the world to fully professionalise its referees. The organisation is a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee owned and funded by the Premier League, EFL, and the FA.

Staff

Evaluation

The Select Group referees meet twice per month for training sessions and analysis of match videos and data. The PGMOL have their own sports scientists, sports psychologists, physiotherapists, sprint coaches, podiatrists and vision scientists which mirror football clubs to help improve referee performance. Every Premier League match is evaluated by a former senior referee to measure the referee's technical performance, along with fellow players and managers (match delegates) who assess accuracy and consistency of their decision making and management of their game to ensure the correct result PGMOL no longer sends evaluators to the match, instead relying solely on video analysis. Some referees in the Select Group have criticized this system, believing it misses critical environmental considerations in game management.

Sponsorship

The PGMOL changed its sponsorship for the 2010–11 season from Air Asia to its parent group, Tune Group. For the 2012–13 season Expedia sponsored the officials, but this agreement ended after a year. For the start of the 2013–14 Premier League season PGMOL had no sponsor, but part way through the season EA Sports signed a long term agreement which saw their logo on the arms of all officials in the Premier League and EFL until 2019. In 2022, the sponsorship was renewed until the end of the 2024–25 season.

Controversies

Mark Halsey claim

In September 2016, Mark Halsey, a former member and referee, claimed that PGMOL asked him to lie in match reports. PGMOL denied the claim, and no further action was taken.

Employment status

In 2018, HMRC challenged the employment status of PGMOL appointed referees. The tax authority claimed that referees are employees, not self-employed as PGMOL claimed. The tax tribunals sided with HMRC, but the appellate court reversed, determining that their referees are self-employed. The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom heard the HMRC's appeal on 26 June 2023.

Implementation of Video Assistant Referees

Howard Webb acknowledged the turbulent implementation of Video Assistant Referees (VAR) after he became PGMOL's Chief. He stated that his goal is increased transparency in the VAR process. Such measures includes the introduction of an independent panel consisting of three players, a representative from the Premier League and a PGMOL official to evaluate VAR's performance during the 2022–23 season. The panel found six errors out of 48 decisions in the months before the 2022 FIFA World Cup break. The same panel found just four incorrect interventions in the latter half of the season. In the 2023–24 season, Webb consented to releasing the audio between VAR and on pitch officials for key and controversial calls in a regular TV programme, "Match Officials Mic'd Up". The show airs at the end of every month and features Howard Webb and former footballer Michael Owen discussing the process and addressing errors made by officials for the previous four match weeks. This is an expansion on the special release of VAR audio to address an error made by VAR during the September 30, 2023, match between Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur.

David Coote controversy

On 11 November 2024, PGMOL suspended referee David Coote after video footage with Ben Kitt emerged in which he made derogatory comments about Liverpool and described Jürgen Klopp as an arrogant "German cunt". According to The Guardian, the "video appears to date from the 2020–21 season". During that season, Coote was the video assistant referee for the Merseyside derby between Liverpool and Everton at Goodison on 17 October, a game which saw Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford go unpunished for what TNT Sports called "a horror tackle" on Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk which resulted in a season-ending injury. Having watched the video, Coote did not call for any action on Pickford, instead focusing on a marginal offside in the buildup to the collision. Coote initially claimed the video was not real, however he later admitted that it was genuine. The Football Association subsequently launched its own investigation into the video due to a potential breach of rule E3.

Apologies and acknowledgements of error