Top 10 World’s Highest Paid Soccer Referees 2023-24

Soccer referees are indispensable to the sport, as they're the ones responsible for compliance with the rules. The earnings of the highest-paid soccer referees in 2023-2024 are a testament to their efforts and expertise.

While their salaries pale in comparison to those of soccer players, the refs' hard work is quite well compensated. Indeed, these officials are handsomely rewarded for their deep understanding of soccer and their ability to make split-second decisions on the field.

Given the enormous amount of pressure they're under during each game, that's not surprising. In this article, we'll look at the world's 10 highest-paid football referees, their career paths, and the best-paying soccer leagues that made it all possible. Let's dive in!

• 10 World's Highest Paid Soccer Referees 2023-24
  1. Rating 10-6
     1. 10. Graham Scott
     2. 9. Simon Hooper
     3. 8. Craig Pawson
     4. 7. John Brooks
     5. 6. Andy Madley
  2. Rating 5-1
     1. 5. Chris Kavanagh
     2. 4. Paul Tierney
     3. 3. Stuart Attwell
     4. 2. Anthony Taylor
     5. 1. Michael Oliver
• Which League Has the Highest-Paid Referees?
• What's the Salary of a FIFA Referee?
• What's The Average Pay of a La Liga Referee?
• Concluding Thoughts
• References
  • 10 World's Highest Paid Soccer Referees 2023-24
    1. Rating 10-6
       1. 10. Graham Scott
       2. 9. Simon Hooper
       3. 8. Craig Pawson
       4. 7. John Brooks
       5. 6. Andy Madley
    2. Rating 5-1
       1. 5. Chris Kavanagh
       2. 4. Paul Tierney
       3. 3. Stuart Attwell
       4. 2. Anthony Taylor
       5. 1. Michael Oliver
  • Which League Has the Highest-Paid Referees?
  • What's the Salary of a FIFA Referee?
  • What's The Average Pay of a La Liga Referee?
  • Concluding Thoughts
  • References 10 World's Highest Paid Soccer Referees 2023-24

    The main factors influencing the salaries of soccer referees are experience level and tenure, consistent performance, ranking, and what matches they're assigned.

    The higher the profile of a match, the higher the salary that the referee commands. It's, therefore, no surprise that all the highest-paid soccer referees are in the EPL, and more than half are FIFA-accredited.

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    Currently, half of the world's highest-paid soccer referees earn close to $90k. In addition to the base salary, referees commonly earn bonuses.

    Here are the ten highest-paid soccer referees in the world today. Note that this list does not include retired referees like Mike Dean and Martin Atkinson, each of whom earned at least 200,000 per annum throughout their careers.

    Rating 10-610. Graham Scott

    Graham Scott is surprisingly the only former soccer player turned referee to make the list. He started his career as a ref in 1997 and joined the National League's List of Referees in 2006.

    Scott was a referee with the English Football League (EFL) from 2008 to 2015 before joining the English Premier League (EPL) Select Group of Referees in 2015.

    He's not a qualified FIFA referee but has a longstanding career in the sport. Scott officiated 52 matches in the 2021/2022 season - more than any other ref on this list. However, in the 2023/2024 season, he only officiated two games.

    The bonuses from these two games, combined with his estimated salary of 48,000, make him the tenth highest-paid soccer ref in our ranking.

    9. Simon Hooper

    Currently working in the EPL, Simon Hooper started off as an EFL referee and kept his position for ten years (2008-2018) before being promoted to the Premier League. Like Graham Scott, Hooper isn't yet FIFA-certified (although many referees on our list are).

    Hooper is no stranger to controversial referee decisions, although he's never been suspended. In the 2023/2024 season, he officiated six games. His salary of circa 48,000, plus the fees from last season, put him in ninth spot on this list.

    8. Craig Pawson

    Currently an EPL ref, Craig Pawson started his career as an EFL assistant referee in his early teens. In 2008, he joined the EFL as a full-time ref and was later promoted to the EPL in 2013.

    As of 2015, he's also a FIFA-listed referee. Pawson, together with the now-retired Jonathan Moss, was the official ref for the 2015 FA Cup Final.

    In the 2021/2022 season, he presided over 41 games, and in the 2023/2024 season, Pawson reffed seven games. His reported salary is estimated at 48,000, excluding the match fees for the above seven games and bonuses.

    7. John Brooks

    John Brooks is the youngest ref on our list, aged 34. In 2012, he became an assistant referee in the EPL at the age of 21. He was only recently promoted to the referee position in 2021 and doesn't have a FIFA referee status yet.

    In 2023, Brooks was axed from two EPL matches due to an error he committed during the Brighton-Crystal Palace match. Despite the mishap, however, he successfully refereed eight games in the 2023/2024 season.

    His earnings this season come from his reported salary of 48,000 and additional match fees.

    6. Andy Madley

    EPL referee Andrew (Andy) Madley got his start in his local Wakefield league before advancing to the EFL as an assistant ref in 2008. He later moved to the EPL as an assistant referee in 2010 but left after a year.

    He did, however, return to the EPL in 2019 after nine years in the English Football League. In addition to being an EPL referee, Madley is also a qualified FIFA referee as of 2019.

    He refereed eight games in the 2023/2024 season, including the recent FA Cup final on May 25th. The 1,000+ fees from these eight games, plus his estimated salary of 48,000, put him in sixth place in our ranking.

    Rating 5-15. Chris Kavanagh

    Our top five of the highest-paid soccer referees kick off with Chris Kavanagh. He began his refereeing career at the young age of 13 in the Youth League before being promoted to the National League in 2012.

    He later joined the EFL in 2014 and started working as a ref in the EPL in 2017. He's also a FIFA-accredited referee.

    Kavanagh was the referee of the2024 EFL Carabao Cup final in the 2023/2024 season. He officiated fivegames that season and 35 games in the 2021/2022 season.

    The bonuses and fees from these games, coupled with his reported salary of $89,300, earned him the fifth spot in our ranking.

    4. Paul Tierney

    The English Premier League referee Paul Tierney worked for the National League and the English Football League (EFL). He was appointed EPL referee in 2015 and was later listed as a FIFA referee in 2018.

    Tierney's memorable moments include the 2021 EFL Carabao Cup final and the 2023 FA Cup final. He has presided over seven 2023/2024 season games to date and over 39 games in the 2021/2022 season.

    This season, Tierney has a salary of $89,300+ and received match fees of $1,400 per match, as per the EPL protocol.

    3. Stuart Attwell

    The third highest paid in our ranking, Stuart Attwell, was appointed to be an EPL referee twice - first in 2008-2012, and then again in 2016. At the time of his first appointment, Attwell was the youngest-ever EPL referee at only 25.

    Unlike many other refs listed, Attwell is not FIFA-accredited, though he's still one of the most prolific refs on our list. In the 2023/2024 seasons, Attwell presided over twenty-three matches to date, though he oversaw 29 games in the 2022-2023 season.

    He has an estimated salary of $89,300+ and receives a bonus of over 1,000 per match. These earnings place him third on our list, tied with several others like Paul Tierney.

    2. Anthony Taylor

    Anthony Taylor was promoted to the Premier League in 2010 but got his start back in 2002 in the Northern Premier League. Before being a ref, Taylor worked as a prison guard - a very unexpected career trajectory, to say the least!

    In 2013, Taylor became a FIFA-listed referee, which allows him toreferee international competitions. He would later become the second-ever referee to bein charge of two FA Cup finals-in 2017 and 2020.

    He also officiated the infamous 2021 Finland-Denmark game, during which Danish midfielder Christian Eriksen nearly lost his life.

    Thanks to his high EPL salary, bonuses, and earnings from international matches, Taylor comes second in our ranking. His reported earnings in the 2023/2024 season are between $230,400 and $256,000. This season, Taylor officiated 27 Premier League games.

    1. Michael Oliver

    EPL ref Michael Oliver tops this year's list of the highest-paid soccer referees. Like Anthony Taylor, he's been an EPL referee since 2010, having previously been with the EFL, the National League, and the Northern Premier League. He's also FIFA-accredited.

    In the 2023/2024 season, Oliver, along with several other soccer referees, was flown into the UAE to referee a game. He was paid $25,600 to referee this single match, which is significantly higher than the regular match fee of an EPL ref.

    This high fee, coupled with Oliver's significant salary, other match fees, and FIFA payments, is what makes Oliver the highest-earning soccer referee of the 2023/2024 season. So far, he's officiated 9 games to date this season, and he's earning $255,800 per year.

    Which League Has the Highest-Paid Referees?

    According to The Athletic, the referees in the Spanish top league, La Liga, are paid a fixed salary of $158,900. If they're a VAR, they can earn an extra $2,688 2,102 per game.

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    The above-fixed salary is indeed very high. However, when we look at the sliding scale of the Premier League salaries, we see that the referees are paid between 73,191 and 147,258. They also get an additional match fee of $1,426 or $1,070 if they're a VAR.

    Therefore, while La Liga has the highest fixed ref salary, referees can earn the most in the Premier League, depending on their level of experience.

    What's the Salary of a FIFA Referee?

    Since the 2018 FIFA World Cup, the FIFA referees have been earning a basic rate of $70,000, plus a $3,000 bonus for each game. This will be the rate going forward.

    What's The Average Pay of a La Liga Referee?

    La Liga referees receive a fixed salary of $158,900 per year, a fixed fee of $5,374 per match, and $28,000 per year for image rights.

    So, there's no average income" of a La Liga referee as this income is fixed.

    Concluding Thoughts

    Being a soccer referee is a very tough job. The hefty referee salaries and bonuses covered in this article reflect that. These highly trained experts are masters of spotting the smallest details in the game (until they wrongly send someone off, that is!).

    Like our guides to highest-paid soccer players and coaches, in this guide, we carefully analyzed the details of the richest referees' income. We saw that the EPL and La Liga have the highest referee salaries, although the EPL potentially allows referees to earn more.

    All the referees listed are or have been EPL referees at some point. And whether or not some of them will retire after the 2023/2024 season, they undoubtedly had long and successful careers.

    ReferencesClick to expand and view sources
    • Premier League Referees Highest Paid In Europe's Top Five Leagues As Stunning Wages Revealed (Sport Bible)
    • How Much Referees Are Paid In Europe's Top Five Leagues And Mls (Give Me Sport)
    • How Much Premier League Referees Get Paid (Give Me Sport)
    • How Much Do Referees Get Paid? (The Athletic)
    • Highest Paid Referees In The Premier League And Their Salaries (Refsport)
    • Premier League Referee Wages Revealed And Ranked Against Global Counterparts (Fourfourtwo)
    • How Much Do Premier League Referees Get Paid? (The Sun)
    • How Much Are Referees Paid At The Fifa World Cup? (The Sun)
    • Who Is Premier League Referee John Brooks? (The Sun)
    • Chris Kavanagh Referee Profile (Premier League)
    • Premier League Referee Salaries: How Much Do Pl Refs Make? (888 Sport)
    • Premier League Referees' Salaries: What Is The Average Salary For Refs In The Uk? (Sports Brief)
    • How Much Do Premier League Referees Get Paid And Who Makes The Most? (Daily Star)
    • How Much Do World Cup Referees Get Paid? (Refsix)
    • Fifa World Cup Qatar 2022 (Fifa)
    • Fa Cup Final: Anthony Taylor To Referee Second Final (Bbc)
    • The Ref Who Helped Save Christian Eriksen Used His Experience As A Prison Guard At Strangeways (Manchester Evening News)
    • Attwell And Tierney Promoted To Select Group (Premier League)
    • How Much Money Do Premier League Referees Get Paid? (Football Fancast)
    • Carabao Cup Final: Match Officials Confirmed (Efl)
    • The Team Of Match Officials For The Emirates Fa Cup Final Has Been Confirmed (The Fa)
    • Jon Moss cannot Wait' To Referee 2015 Fa Cup Final (The Fa)
    • Carabao Cup Final Referee Confirmed As Liverpool Reunite With Official Who Made Penalty Error (Liverpool Echo)
    • How Much Do Premier League Referees Get Paid? Reported Salaries Of Pl Officials (One Football)
    • Referee John Brooks Taken Off Var Duty For Two Matches After Brighton Error (The Guardian)
    • Premier League Make Decision On Referee Simon Hooper After Costly Man City Blunder (Mirror)
    • All 30 Premier League Var Errors Revealed As Clubs Prepare For Vote (Mirror)
    • Anthony Taylor (Sports Mole)

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