Scottish FA appoint another high-profile former EPL referee as new head of VAR after Jon Moss exit

Official who has refereed second highest number of EPL games joins SFA

The Scottish FA has dipped back into the market of former English Premier League referees with the appointment of a new VAR manager.

Jon Moss was originally hired for the newly-created role in the summer but quit after just 52 days to become Head of Referees at Football Australia in what was described as a "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity".

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Now another former EPL referee, Martin Atkinson, has been drafted in as his replacement. Atkinson will leave his role as Select Group Manager at Professional Game Match Officials Limited to take up his new Hampden post in early December.

Atkinson officiated in England’s top flight for 20 years, accumulating the second-highest number of Premier League referee appointments [463]. He took charge of the FA Cup Final in 2011, the 2014 League Cup final and 2015 UEFA Europa League final.

Former EPL referee Martin Atkinson is the Scottish FA's new head of VAR.Former EPL referee Martin Atkinson is the Scottish FA's new head of VAR.
Former EPL referee Martin Atkinson is the Scottish FA's new head of VAR. | PA

He also refereed three matches at UEFA EURO 2016 and was an elite category FIFA referee for a number of years, officiating regularly in the UEFA Champions League. He took charge of his last Premier League match in 2022 before taking up a new role within PGMOL.

Atkinson will work alongside Head of Refereeing Willie Collum. “I am delighted to appoint someone of Martin’s calibre as VAR Manager,” Collum said. “I did not expect to be recruiting for that position again so quickly, but Jon received a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and went with our best wishes.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“I am pleased Martin has agreed to continue the considerable work undertaken to date in optimising our VAR operation and I’m sure our VAR officials and match officials generally will look forward to working with someone of Martin’s experience at Clydesdale House, as will I and the rest of my team.”

Reacting to his appointment, Atkinson added: “I look forward to this exciting new challenge and have been impressed by the significant strides forward Scottish football has taken with VAR implementation since Willie arrived. I look forward to continuing that work and supporting Willie, the match officials and the team at the Scottish FA.”

Related topics:

Comments

 0 comments

Want to join the conversation? Please or to comment on this article.