PHIL DOWD WILL referee this year’s FA Cup final between Chelsea and Liverpool on Saturday 5 May at Wembley Stadium.
It is the first time that the 49-year-old from Staffordshire will take charge of the cup final, although he was the fourth official in 2006 when Liverpool beat West Ham on penalties in the last final to be held in Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium.
Dowd has previously refereed both the 2010 League Cup Final and the 2011 Community Shield, as well as the Carling Cup meeting between Chelsea and Liverpool in Stamford Bridge earlier this season.
“I was honoured and privileged when I found out,” Dowd said (TheFA.com). “You obviously hope as a referee that you might one day be considered for The FA Cup Final so it will certainly be the highlight of my career so far.”
I would never have thought in my wildest dreams that when I first started refereeing [in 1984] that one day I’d be refereeing The FA Cup Final. Watching The Final as a boy was something I always loved to do.
He will be assisted at the cup final by assistant referees Stuart Burt and Andrew Garratt, fourth official Michael Jones, and reserve assistant Simon Long.
