Martin Atkinson (born 31 March 1971) is an English football referee who officiates in the Premier League and for FIFA.
Atkinson started his refereeing career at the relatively early age of 16 years old, as the local team did not have a referee to oversee matches. By 1998, he had been promoted to the Football League's list of assistant referees.
This was followed in 2000 by promotion to the Select Group of assistant referees. By December 2002 he was refereeing Football Conference matches, and also refereed the 2003 FA County Youth Cup final.
At the start of the 2003–04 season, Atkinson joined the national list of referees. He had the distinction of not sending off any player from the field of play between August 2004 and October 2005.
Only two years after his Conference debut, Atkinson was appointed to referee his first Premier League game, taking charge of the Manchester City-Birmingham City fixture on 20 April 2005, cautioning one player and awarding the home side a penalty kick in a 3–0 result.
During the three seasons between 2003 and 2006, Atkinson issued only eight red cards in 102 matches, an average of less than 0.08 per game.
In 2006 Atkinson was appointed to the list of FIFA referees.
The 2006-07 season saw Atkinson referee 42 matches in English football, his highest tally of appointments to date.
[edit] 2006 FA Community Shield
Atkinson refereed the 2006 FA Community Shield match at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, arguably his highest domestic appointment. Liverpool defeated Chelsea 2–1, with Atkinson issuing four yellow cards.
Atkinson was appointed to referee the 2008 FA Trophy Final at Wembley Stadium, which was contested between Ebbsfleet United and Torquay United.
Atkinson's only international appointment to date was the 2010 FIFA World Cup UEFA group 4 qualifying game between Germany and Finland in Hamburg on 14 October 2009 which ended 1-1.
Atkinson issues a yellow card during a fixture between Birmingham City and Arsenal in 2010
During the 2008-09 season he refereed four UEFA Champions League games, including FC Zürich against Real Madrid and Inter Milan versus Dynamo Kiev.
In 2010 Atkinson was fourth official to Howard Webb for the Champions League final in Madrid.
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