Who Are The Highest Paid Referees In The World?

Being a referee isn’t for the faint hearted. The criticism, abuse and insults hurled at referees is bad enough in Sunday league football. Magnify that on a global scale when officials take to the pitch in the biggest games in the footballing world, it begs the question why anyone would want to be in that environment. A quite compelling answer would be the handsome salary certain referees take home after a hard year's work.

Premier League

As you can imagine, the biggest salary’s go to referees in England’s highest division, the Premier League. The system in England is run by the Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) which was set up in 2001. It ensured that referees were given a basic salary of £35,000, which converted match officials from using refereeing as a part-time job, to suddenly becoming a full-time occupation. Fast forward to the present day and that figure has doubled, and in some cases even quadrupled for referees with average salaries now ranging from £72,000 and £148,000.

There is a tiered system that the PGMOL has set out to rank referees. These are the Select Group, Development Group and assistant referees. The Select Group is broken down into two groups, with Select Group 1 including the best officials in England. These referees officiate matches in the Premier League, as well as games in the Championship. Some group one officials are FIFA referees and therefore officiate matches in the World Cup, Champions League and Europa League.

Factors such as experience and seniority can help referees reach the Select Group and therefore achieve a higher salary. Other elements such as match fees and performance bonuses are also included in a referee's salary. Once all these factors accumulate, we can see how the senior referees such as Michael Oliver and Anthony Taylor receive the highest salaries in English football. Whilst the exact figures are unknown the duo can earn up to £250,000 each year, showing how they are the highest paid officials in the world.

🚨 Anthony Taylor will referee Nottingham Forest vs. Chelsea.#CFC pic.twitter.com/jegc4LuiH8

— Chelsea Dodgers (@TheBlueDodger) May 21, 2025

La Liga

In Spain there is a different system of allocating referees their salary, which on average allows La Liga referees to earn more than Premier League officials. Data gathered by The Athletic show that referees in Spain’s highest division earn a fixed salary of £124,256 regardless of their level of experience and seniority. This is as much as £52,000 more than the average salary in the Premier League, reinforcing how fortunate La Liga referees are compared to their counterparts. On top of this, match officials are given additional payments through bonuses such as image rights. With the Wurth Group being advertised on referee’s kits, they earn on extra £21,929 per year.

However once referees establish themselves within the league and prove they can be trusted upon to officiate the high-profile games within the division, they earn an increase in pay. This can be seen for Carlos del Cerro Grande and for Antonio Mateu Lahoz before they both retired in 2023. Both officials were reported to have been earning over $300,000 per year (£222,982).

Although their salaries are below that of the Premier League’s highest earning referees, they have just as an important role within the footballing world. Mateu Lahoz not only refereed games in La Liga between 2008 and 2023, but also was an international referee who took charge of FIFA World Cup matches. Del Cerro is also an international referee and still officiates major international matches. Most recently he was the referee for the Conference League final in 2023 between Fiorentina and West Ham United.

Congratulations to Carlos del Cerro Grande, who has been promoted to the Elite Referee Category 👏

The Spaniard becomes one of 2⃣6⃣ elite referees who can officiate knockout @ChampionsLeague and @UEFAEURO matches 🏆 pic.twitter.com/k7XyDVjz62

— UEFA (@UEFA) December 11, 2018

MLS

Outside of Europe, Major League Soccer referees earn nowhere near the salary of their peers in Europe. However, the officials who are part of the Professional Soccer Referees Association (PSRA) and involved in the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) will see a significant increase in pay. According to The Athletic, officials who had under two years of experience were paid $50,000 (£37,000) under the old CBA. The new terms of the CBA will instead pay match officials $85,000 (£63,000), an increase of $35,000 (£26,000). As is the case in other leagues, more experienced referees will receive higher salaries, with an increase from $108,000 (£80,000) to $142,000 (£105,000) under the new agreement.

However it doesn’t stop there, as in 2030 there will be a further increase in salaries for both experienced and inexperienced match officials. Referees with over 200 games of experience will see an income of $182,000 (£135,000) per year, with whistle-blowers below 200 matches receiving $110,000 (£81,000). Jair Marrufo has been a referee in the MLS since 2002 and has been involved in over 200 MLS fixtures. His wealth of experience will make him eligible for the upper bracket of these new salary increases.

Congrats to our FIFA Referee Jair Marrufo and his crew for being selected as match officials for the #FIFAU17WC!

📰: https://t.co/16RB5Pbkpj pic.twitter.com/aljmqctXUd

— U.S. Soccer Referee (@ussoccer_ref) August 22, 2017