What does PGMOL stand for will be a popular question for football fans at the moment as the acronym is currently in the news when it comes to the English Football league – but just what are the letters PGMOL short for?
PGMOL Stands For Professional Game Match Officials Limited
The PGMOL (Professional Game Match Officials Limited) is the English professional body that represents refereeing games.
It was formerly called the PGMOB (Professional Game Match Official Board).
PGMOL was first introduced in 2001 when English referees became professional and is in charge of providing officials for all the matches across the Premier League and English Football Leagues, including the Championship, League One and Two.
The PGMOL is also responsible for any FA Association match or competition – like the FA Community Shield and FA Cup.
English referees were the first in the world to become full professionals.
Former Referee Howard Webb Is The PGMOL Chief Refereeing Officer
Howard Webb (MBE) was a referee in the Premier League between 2003 and 2014, plus was also in charge of the 2010 Champions League and FIFA World Cup Finals – the first person to officiate both matches in the same season.
Since retiring from being a ref in 2014, Webb has been involved with the PGMOB and also the Saudi Arabian Football and Major League Soccer in the US.
Webb was announced as the Chief Refereeing Officer of the PGMOL in August 2022.
PGMOL Has Already Been In The Headlines During Week One Of The Premier League
In the opening week of the new 2023/24 Premier League season, the PGMOL has already hit the headlines.
They’ve had to make an apology about the officials that were in charge of the Manchester United vs Wolves game on Monday 14th August 2023.
United keeper, Andre Onana clearly fouled Wolves player Sasa Kalajdzic in stoppage time in the penalty area. However, the incident wasn’t checked by VAR with ref Simon Hopper not given instructions to check (watch below).
“I was told live that they didn’t think it was a clear and obvious error but having just spoken to Jonathan Moss — and fair play to him for coming straight out — he apologised and said it was blatant penalty and should have been given,” Wolves boss Gary O’Neil said.
Less than 24 hours after the game it was reported that the match officials – Simon Hopper, plus VAR’s Michael Salisbury and VAR assistant Richard West have been stood down for the Premier League ‘week two’ fixtures.
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