How Premier League refereeing works in 2026/27

Pro Ref, formerly PGMOL

The referees' body was renamed on 1 July 2026: PGMOL became Pro Ref, in full Professional Game Referees. Howard Webb remains Chief Refereeing Officer. The old Select Group 1, Select Group 2 and Supplementary List were merged into a single Professional Referee Group with what the body calls a merit-based pathway, backed by a three-year funding agreement between the Premier League, the EFL, the FA and WSL Football (The FA, 29 June 2026). Older documents still say PGMOL, and the panel's PDFs still refer to a "PGMOL representative"; the two names mean the same organisation.

The Premier League named 39 referees in the group for 2026/27 (Premier League list of match officials for 2026/27, 24 August 2026): Allison, Attwell, Backhouse, Bankes, Barrott, E. Bell, J. Bell, Bramall, Brooks, Busby, Corlett, Donohue, England, Finnie, Gillett, Hallam, Harrington, Herczeg, Hooper, R. Jones, Kavanagh, Kirk, Kitchen, Langford, A. Madley, B. Madley, Martin, Nield, Oliver, Pawson, Reeves, Ricardo, Robinson, Salisbury, J. Smith, L. Smith, Tierney, Ward, D. Webb. Anthony Taylor retired after the 2026 World Cup. 18 of the 39 have refereed a Premier League game so far this season; their records are on the referees hub.

How appointments work

Pro Ref's appointments policy sets the eligibility rules: an official cannot take a game involving a club they support, played for or have a personal connection with, and there is a same-town rule outside London. Appointments are made by each group's management team at its discretion, and the Chief Refereeing Officer may vary any appointment (Pro Ref appointments policy (PDF), republished 29 June 2026). The policy does not name a publication day, but the Premier League has published each round's officials on the Monday of match week so far this season: Matchweek 1 on 17 August, Matchweek 2 on 24 August, Matchweek 3 on Tuesday 1 September, Matchweek 4 on 7 September, Matchweek 5 on 14 September. The list covers the referee, two assistants, the fourth official, the VAR and the assistant VAR for all ten games.

What VAR can do in 2026/27

The Premier League's Football Principles for the season (Premier League Football Principles 2026/27, 12 June 2026) keep the high bar for intervention: the referee's call stands unless there has been a clear and obvious error. They also commit to improved use of semi-automated offside technology, more efficient VAR reviews with referee announcements to the stadium, continued work on the in-stadium experience, and a new power for VAR to review a clearly wrong second yellow card that leads to a red. Referees announce the outcome of VAR reviews over the public-address system except for factual offside calls, and disallowed goals and overturns are shown on the big screens.

The law changes for 2026/27 (Premier League on the 2026/27 Laws of the Game, 23 August 2026): an injured player who is treated on the pitch must leave for at least a minute; a five-second countdown applies to throw-ins and goal kicks, with possession reversed if it runs out; a substituted player has ten seconds to leave the field; VAR may review second yellow cards; and a goalkeeper tactical-timeout trial runs. The Premier League declined the IFAB options on VAR for corners, hydration breaks, mouth-covering and mistaken-identity cautions.

The Key Match Incidents panel

The panel is the only body that publishes verdicts on whether Premier League decisions were right. It has five members: three former players or coaches, one Premier League representative and one from Pro Ref. Incidents are chosen jointly by the Premier League and Pro Ref. For each one the panel votes first on whether the on-field decision was correct, then on whether the VAR outcome, an intervention or a non-intervention, was correct. Results are published about a week after the meeting, and from 2026/27 they are published weekly on the Premier League's website and app (Premier League explainer on the KMI panel, 23 August 2026). This site carries every published round on the KMI panel page, quoted with the votes and the date.

Verdicts published so far in which the panel found the VAR outcome incorrect:

• Villa v Arsenal, Mon 31 Aug, 90:00+07:27. Penalty not awarded. Challenge by Maatsen (AVL) on Guimaraes (ARS). On-field decision: incorrect, foul by Maatsen (0:5); no VAR intervention, which the panel found incorrect, clear and obvious error (0:5). The referee was Jarred Gillett.

  "The panel felt that a penalty should have been awarded on-field for Maatsen's reckless challenge on Guimaraes. Clear contact was made on the attacker's standing leg and Maatsen made no contact with the ball. They also felt that VAR should have intervened as the non-penalty award was a clear and obvious error."Key Match Incidents panel, Match Round 2, published by the Premier League on 9 September 2026. Article, full table (PDF).

• United v City, Sun 13 Sept, 59:25. Goal not awarded. Haaland (MCI) in an onside position, Fernandez (MCI) in an offside position. On-field decision: incorrect, Fernandez impacting opponent (0:5); VAR overturned the on-field decision, which the panel found incorrect, clear and obvious error (0:5). The referee was Michael Oliver.

  "The panel unanimously felt that the VAR intervention to award the goal was incorrect. Fernandez is in an offside position, attempts to play the ball that is close to him, and impacts the ability of the defender and the goalkeeper to play the ball in the process. A VAR review should have been recommended for a missed subjective offside in the attacking possession phase."Key Match Incidents panel, Match Round 4, published by the Premier League on 23 September 2026. Article, full table (PDF).

Pro Ref also issues statements of its own after a clear error. On 13 September 2026, the evening of the Manchester derby, it said the VAR "did not recognise the likely impact of his position and should have recommended an on-field review" and called it "an error of judgement" (ESPN, 13 September 2026). ESPN reported the next day that the VAR and assistant VAR on that game were not appointed for the following round (ESPN, 14 September 2026). The KMI panel's own verdict on the goal, published 23 September, is quoted above.

Match Officials Mic'd Up

Roughly monthly, Howard Webb goes through selected incidents with the audio between the referee and the VAR on Match Officials Mic'd Up, shown on Sky Sports and TNT Sports and published by the Premier League. The first episode of 2026/27 went out on 15 September 2026 (Match Officials Mic'd Up, episode 1 of 2026/27, 15 September 2026).

The rhythm of a match week

• Monday: the Premier League publishes the officials for the coming round. The referees hub updates.
• Saturday to Monday: games are played; the data feed records each VAR overturn as it happens, and the VAR decisions log updates after the round.
• Wednesday, about ten days after the round: the KMI panel's verdicts are published; the KMI panel page adds them.
• Some Tuesdays: a new Mic'd Up episode.

The current international break runs from 21 September to 6 October, with Matchweek 6 starting on Saturday 10 October 2026 (Premier League on the 2026/27 international breaks, 5 September 2026).