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Howard Melton Webb MBE (born 14 July 1971) 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.
Webb is counted amongst the all-time top referees by the International Federation of Football History and Statistics and refereed a number of notable matches in England including the FA Cup final, the FA Community Shield and the final of the EFL Cup. In 2010, he became the first person to referee the finals of both the UEFA Champions League and FIFA World Cup in the same year.
Throughout his professional career, Webb drew praise for his authoritative and respected approach to refereeing from football bodies, pundits, colleagues, players and managers. He announced his retirement in August 2014 to become the technical director of the Professional Game Match Officials Board.
In 1996, he was appointed as a Football League assistant referee and, in 1998, fulfilled the same function in the Premier League, as well as being promoted to the Football Conference as a full referee. He was a police officer with South Yorkshire Police but took sabbatical leave to concentrate on his refereeing.
Since then, 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.
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. League winners Chelsea went 2–0 up through two Didier Drogba goals, but Cesc Fàbregas netted a goal for FA Cup winners Arsenal 25 minutes before the end. It was a tense finale, but Chelsea held on to secure a 2–1 victory. Webb issued three yellow cards (to Frank Lampard, Claude Makélélé and Fàbregas) in a game that saw 11 substitutions. Arsenal v. Chelsea , FA Community Shield 2005 match report: TheFA.com website.
In May 2006, Webb took charge of the FA Trophy final at Boleyn Ground in London. Grays Athletic beat Woking 2–0 through goals from Dennis Oli and Glenn Poole, both just before half-time. Grays Athletic v. Woking , FA Trophy Final 2006: Grays Athletic website. No players found their way into the book. The 2007 Football League Cup final at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff was an incident-filled match. The match ended with a brawl, with most of the players on the pitch becoming involved. Managers José Mourinho and Arsène Wenger both entered the pitch in an attempt to calm the situation. As a result of the mêlée, Webb sent off Mikel John Obi of Chelsea and Kolo Touré and Emmanuel Adebayor of Arsenal, and showed yellow cards to Frank Lampard and Cesc Fàbregas. Carling Cup Final, 2007: Match report at BBC.co.uk website. This was the first time that three red cards had been shown in a League Cup final. Indeed, before this game, only three red cards had been shown in all of the previous finals.
Webb took charge of the 2009 FA Cup final, the 128th final of the world's oldest domestic football cup competition. It was played at Wembley Stadium in London and was the third time that an FA Cup final had been staged at the stadium since it was rebuilt. The match was contested by Chelsea and Everton, with Chelsea coming out on top to record their fifth FA Cup success. Webb cautioned Mikel John Obi and Frank Lampard of Chelsea and Tony Hibbert, Phil Neville and Leighton Baines of Everton.
The 2006 European Under-21 Championship qualifying rounds began in August 2004, with the finals taking place in Portugal in May and June 2006. Webb officiated a group A match between France and Portugal, which the former won 1–0, France v. Portugal Under-21 match lineups from www.uefa.com and a Group B match between Italy and Ukraine, which the Italians won. Italy v. Ukraine Under-21 match lineups from www.uefa.com Webb also took charge of one of the two semi-finals, which saw Ukraine beat Serbia and Montenegro 5–4 on penalties after a 0–0 draw. Ukraine v. Serbia and Montenegro Under-21 match lineups from www.uefa.com He was also appointed fourth official for the final in Porto, where the Netherlands beat Ukraine 3–0. Netherlands v. Ukraine Under-21 match lineups from www.uefa.com
A UEFA Champions League group match on 26 September 2006 between Steaua București and Lyon was Webb's first European appointment. The match, played at the Ghencea Stadium in Bucharest, finished 3–0 to Lyon, with Webb issuing four yellow cards during the course of the match. First European appointment, match report at UEFA Official website.
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. Poland v. Brazil, 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup: FIFA.com website. He then took charge of a group C game between Mexico and Portugal at the BMO Field in Toronto Mexico v. Portugal, 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup: FIFA.com website. and a group A match between Canada and Congo at the Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton. Webb was retained for the knock-out stage of the tournament, and refereed a quarter-final in Montreal where Chile defeated Nigeria 4–0 with all four goals being scored in extra time.
In December 2007, Webb was selected as England's representative to referee at UEFA Euro 2008, with Darren Cann and Michael Mullarkey as his assistants. Whilst refereeing his first match of the tournament, a Group B match between Austria and Poland, and with less than one minute left in stoppage time, he awarded Austria a penalty kick after he adjudged Poland's Mariusz Lewandowski to have pulled the shirt of Sebastian Prödl. The penalty was converted and the match finished 1–1. UEFA official William Gaillard said the decision was not controversial and was correct. 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". Webb refereed his second game of Euro 2008 when he took charge of a Group D match in which Greece lost 2–1 to Spain. UEFA stated on 19 June that Webb had not been selected to referee matches in the knock-out phase of the tournament.
Webb was handed a one-week demotion to the Football League Championship from officiating in the Premier League in April 2009 after he awarded Manchester United a penalty kick while they trailed 2–0 to Tottenham Hotspur. The penalty was converted and United went on to win the match 5–2. Webb later admitted he had made "a mistake" but had awarded the penalty "honestly".
In June 2009, Webb was one of the referees at the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup in South Africa, where he took charge of two games: A 4–3 win for Brazil over Egypt, and a 0–0 draw between Iraq and New Zealand. Throughout the tournament, Webb wrote a regular blog detailing his experiences as a referee while at the tournament.
In May 2010, Webb was announced as the referee for the 2010 Champions League final at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in Madrid. He showed yellow cards to Martín Demichelis and Mark van Bommel of Bayern Munich and cautioned Cristian Chivu of Inter Milan. Inter won the match 2–0 through two goals by striker Diego Milito.
In December 2011, Webb was named one of the 12 referees selected by UEFA to take charge of games at Euro 2012. He was in charge of a Group A fixture between Russia and Czech Republic on the opening day in Wrocław, a Group C fixture between Italy and Croatia in Poznań, and a quarter-final between the Czech Republic and Portugal in Warsaw.
Webb was selected as a referee for the 2013 Confederations Cup in Brazil. He refereed a Group A match in Fortaleza between Mexico and Brazil, which ended in a 2–0 win for the home nation; Webb issued five cautions.
Webb refereed the World Cup final between the Netherlands and Spain. He was assisted by Darren Cann and Michael Mullarkey in Johannesburg's Soccer City stadium. Webb was the first English referee to take charge of a World Cup final since Jack Taylor in 1974 – a game in which the Netherlands lost to West Germany. Webb issued 14 yellow cards, including two to the Netherlands' John Heitinga who was subsequently sent off, more than doubling the former record of six yellows for a World Cup final, set in 1986.
The match was seen as a very difficult one to referee. The Dutch were criticised for their rough play, and some thought Webb was generous for not showing any red cards to the Dutch players until ten minutes before the end of extra time. 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 Webb, noting that it was "not easy" to control such a match. Former Premier League referee Jeff Winter said Webb "had a superb game" while Scotland's Alan Hansen condemned the Dutch, saying that, "Webb tried to make the game flow but on this occasion he was left with no choice." The British Referees' Association said "it would be almost impossible to disagree with any of the bookings he issued", while former FA Cup final referee Keith Hackett noted that "anyone who criticises the officials lacks the knowledge and experience of someone who has refereed" and called on FIFA to punish the Dutch players who castigated Webb to the press.
On 19 June, he officiated the Group C match between Colombia and the Ivory Coast in Brasília. Webb also refereed the first knockout match on 28 June between Brazil and Chile in Belo Horizonte. Host nation Brazil won a penalty shootout 3–2 after the game finished 1–1 after extra-time.
Webb then became director of referees for the Saudi Arabian Football Federation, while also joining BT Sport as an analyst. After resigning his position with SAFF in January 2017 – to be replaced by Mark Clattenburg – it was announced that from March 2017 he would become the Manager of Video Assistant Referee Operations for Major League Soccer's Professional Referee Organization.
In August 2022 it was announced that Webb would return to the Professional Game Match Officials Limited as chief refereeing officer.
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In four fixtures since the 2000–01 season he has issued two red cards in the same game, three times dismissing one player from either side, and once reducing one team (Wimbledon in December 2001) to nine men. Norwich v. Wimbledon match information from www.soccerbase.com He has once shown three red cards in the same match: the 2007 Football League Cup Final.
Webb has sent off two goalkeepers since 2000–01: Kelvin Davis of Wimbledon in December 2001 Kelvin Davis (footballer)| dismissal from www.soccerbase.com and John Filan of Wigan Athletic in March 2004. John Filan dismissal from www.soccerbase.com
He was a sergeant in the South Yorkshire Police before turning professional as a referee. He was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2011 New Year Honours for services to football.
He is a Rotherham United supporter.
In June 2011, Webb was made president of the Baris Northern Counties East Football League, a league in which he had once officiated. In July 2011 he received an Honorary Doctor of Science degree from the University of Bedfordshire. In November 2011 he also gained an honorary degree from York St John University as a Doctor of Health Sciences.
He began his career in policing in 1993 and took a five-year career break in 2008 to focus on refereeing. He returned to the South Yorkshire Police in April 2013.
| + !Date !Title !Publisher !ISBN | |||
| 24 August 2017 | The Man in the Middle: The Autobiography of the World Cup Final Referee | Simon & Schuster UK | 978-1-4711-5977-8 |
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