Match official promotions confirmed across the pro game for 2025-26

Following several development opportunities in the Premier League, Blake Antrobus will be stepping up onto the list of top-flight assistant referees. This progression follows a successful 2024-25 for Antrobus, who concluded the previous campaign on the line for the EFL League One Play-Off final at Wembley.  

Fellow assistant referees Jonathan Bickerdike, Conor Brown, Emily Carney, Callum Gough, Jacob Graham, David Harrison and Alistair Nelson will be moving up from the National Group to predominantly officiating on Championship fixtures during the forthcoming season. 

Jonathan Bickerdike’s promotion comes at the end of a campaign which saw him selected as part of the officiating team for the Vertu Trophy final at Wembley. Conor Brown and Alistair Nelson also closed out their respective campaigns at the home of English football on the League Two Play-Off final, while Callum Gough and Jacob Graham were on the line for the National League promotion final and David Harrison was appointed to the Isuzu FA Vase final.

Meanwhile, Emily Carney adds another milestone to a fast-growing list. Over the past few seasons alone the 26-year-old has officiated the 2024 UEFA Women’s Champions League final, as well as at the 2024 Paris Olympics football tournament and she is about to participate in the UEFA Women’s EUROs in Switzerland.  

As PGMO continues to recognise talented and high-performing officials, referees Farai Hallam, Adam Herczeg, Tom Kirk, Ruebyn Ricardo, Lewis Smith and Ben Toner will join a newly-created supplementary list for the Select Group in the 2025-26 season - serving both the Premier League and EFL.  

No stranger to the Premier League, Lewis Smith has refereed nine games in the top-flight since joining PGMO’s Development Group. Also coming through the same programme, Farai Hallam and Ruebyn Ricardo stepped out a number of times in the Championship last season, as did Tom Kirk who has made deserved progress through the traditional pathway. Adam Herczeg and Ben Toner have also featured in the second tier of English football, earning their positions on the back of strong seasons in the EFL.  

FIFA referees Mel Burgin and Emily Heaslip as well as assistant referees Matt Joyce, David Middleton and Joseph Karram will also now operate across fixtures in the EFL and National League for the 2025-26 season, reflecting their success across both the men’s and women’s professional game pathways.  

Also stepping up into roles across the National League and EFL are:  

Referees: 

• Harrison Blair  
• Declan Brown  
• George Laflin 
• Lewis Sandoe 
• Matt Scholes 
• Gareth Thomas 

Assistant Referees:  

• Martin Beard 
• Joshua Bramall 
• Andrew Daniels 
• Karl Donaghey 
• John Duffy 
• George Eaton 
• Thomas Holden 
• Mehul Karia 
• Conor Ledgeway 
• Richard Morris 
• William Murray 
• Michael Robinson 
• Alex Rolfe 
• Gavin Scott 
• Bailey Walker 

In the women’s game, the new season will see referee Grace Lowe step up to the Women’s Super League. Lowe has taken charge of a number of WSL fixtures throughout the 2024-25 campaign, with the experience aiding her selection to the FIFA International List of Assistant Referees at the start of this year.  

Assistant referees Luke Bowles, Phoebe Horner and Dan Sykes have also all earned promotions to the Women’s Super League. Meanwhile, referees Jodie Hunter, Julia Kings, Alice Parker and Fabio Roque have received promotions to Women’s Super League 2, alongside assistant referees Imogen Gates, Charlotte Jacques Smith, Brogan Kelly and Lola Pollard.