Clattenburg promoted to FIFA elite group

Referees trio receive FIFA promotions

Professional Game Match Officials (PGMO), the body that provides Select Group officials for Barclays Premier League matches, has had three of its officials receive promotions from FIFA.

Michael Oliver has been promoted to the FIFA Referees List for the first time. The 26 year-old has been in the Select Group since the 2010/11 season and has spent the last year in the UEFA Core Programme aimed at developing international referees.

Mark Clattenburg has been promoted to the Elite category, the highest level of refereeing. Mark has been a FIFA international referee since 2006 and the 36 year-old joins fellow PGMO officials Howard Webb and Martin Atkinson in the Elite category. England is now one of only three FIFA nations to have three Elite referees. Mark refereed four games at the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Colombia last year, including the semi-final between Brazil and Mexico.

PGMO General Manager Mike Riley has been appointed to the FIFA Referees Committee. The Committee oversees the development and training of all International referees and advises the FIFA Executive Committee. Mike, who was on the FIFA Referees List from 1999-2009, has been PGMO General Manager since June 2009 and his management team are responsible for the training and development of 77 referees and 231 assistant referees.