NEW YORK (AP) - Howard Webb, the retired English referee who worked the 2010 World Cup and Champions League finals, will move to New York and manage Major League Soccer’s development of video technology for on-field officials.
Webb will start March 1 as manager of video assistant referee operations of the Professional Referee Organization, which supplies MLS officials. MLS, which announced the hiring Tuesday, will test video assistant referees during preseason matches and hopes to extend the test to regular-season games during the season’s second half.
Now 45, Webb was a Premier League referee from 2000-14 and a FIFA referee from 2005-14. Since his retirement, he had been technical director of Professional Game Match Officials Limited, which supervises referees for the English Premier League, Football League and Football Association. He also is director of referees for the Saudi Arabian Football Federation.
PRO’s general manager is Peter Walton, also a former Premier League referee.
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