How much are football referees paid?

A referee is paid by the match at the bottom of the game and by the year at the top of it. An under-12 cup tie pays £22. A Premier League match pays £1,116, on top of a salary of £73,191, £105,257 or £147,258. A knockout match at the World Cup paid $10,000. This is every level we hold, from a county cup to a World Cup final.

Every level of the English game

What a referee is paid for one match and for a season, from a youth cup to the Premier League

Below the EFL a referee is paid a fee for each match and nothing else, set by the league or the county FA that runs the competition. From League Two up it is a salaried job, and in the Premier League it is both: a salary and a fee for every match on top.

One match, at every level

What a referee is paid to take charge of a single match, largest first

The EFL is not on the chart because it pays by the season rather than by the match: £30,000 in League One and League Two, £120,000 in the Championship.

Grassroots: paid by the match

Youth cups, Saturday leagues and the county senior cups

Wiltshire FA's youth cups pay a referee more as the players get older: £22 for an under-12 match, £30 for an under-18 one.

Saturday league football

Each league sets its own fee. The Mid Sussex League pays £29 in its Premier Division and Championship and £26 in every other division, plus 30p a mile in travel up to £12. The Essex and Suffolk Border League pays £50 in its Premier Division, £45 in Divisions One to Five and £35 to an assistant where one is appointed, each fee £5 more than the season before.

County senior cups

A county's senior cup is the best-paid match most grassroots referees will get, and no two counties pay the same. Wiltshire and Essex pay £75 in the early rounds, Hampshire £70, Kent £65 and Surrey £60, with travel included in Surrey's fee. In Essex the fee rises to £85 from the third round to the quarter-finals and £95 for a semi-final. In Hampshire it rises to £75, then £85 for the semi-finals and the final. Kent appoints a fourth official only for its semi-finals.

Further down Wiltshire's cups the fee falls: £60 for its senior and women's premier cups, £45 for its junior, Sunday, women's and veterans' cups.

Non-league and the women's game

The step between a county cup and the professional game

A Women's Super League referee is paid £248 a match, more than twice what an assistant or a fourth official is paid for the same match, £120. The Women's Championship pays £130, £85 and £78. In the Isthmian League an assistant is paid £55 a match and 40p a mile. We hold no referee's fee for the Isthmian League, and no fee at all for the National League or its North and South divisions.

The EFL: a salary, not a fee

What a referee is paid for a season in the three divisions below the Premier League, 2024/25

A referee in League One or League Two is paid £30,000 a season. A Championship referee is paid £120,000, four times as much.

The Premier League: a salary and a match fee

Three salary bands and one match fee, 2023/24

A Premier League referee is paid twice over: a salary in one of three bands, set by experience and rank, and £1,116 for every match they referee. The highest band, £147,258, is twice the lowest, £73,191.

On the middle band, 30 matches bring a season to £138,737. A video assistant referee is paid £837 for a match, three quarters of the referee's fee. We hold no salary for a Premier League assistant referee.

PGMOL, which employs the professional referees, became Pro Ref for 2026/27 and folded its two select groups and its supplementary list into one Professional Referee Group.

The Champions League

What UEFA pays each official for one match, 2024/25

The final pays €10,000, two thirds more than a league-stage match. A referee given four league-stage matches and a quarter-final is paid €31,500 by UEFA. What the clubs are paid is on the Champions League prize money page.

The World Cup

What FIFA paid each official at the 2026 World Cup

Every official was paid a base fee for the tournament and a fee for each match on top of it. A referee given three group matches and three knockout matches, the final among them, was paid $109,000. What the teams were paid is on the World Cup prize money page.

What referees are paid abroad

The highest salary each league pays a referee, largest first

La Liga pays every referee the same €145,000 a year and €4,900 a match, and €25,570 for their image rights.

The Bundesliga pays €68,000, €78,000 to a referee with more than five years' experience and €88,000 to a FIFA referee, and €6,000 for every match, the most any league here pays for one. A fourth official is paid €1,500.

Serie A pays €30,000 to a referee with fewer than 50 Serie A matches, €60,000 from 50, and €90,000 to its international referees, with €4,000 a match. An assistant is paid €1,400 a match and an assistant VAR €800.

Ligue 1 pays €7,442 a month, €89,304 a year, and €3,420 a match. In MLS a referee starts on $85,150 a year and is paid $165,150 from their 325th match.

The video assistant referee

What a VAR is paid for one match, largest first

The Champions League pays its VAR €4,000, more than the Premier League pays its referee, £1,116. At the 2026 World Cup a VAR was paid a base fee of $25,000 and $3,000 for a group match.

Where to next

The leagues these referees work in, and the rest of the money in the game