FA Confirms Referee For Cup Final

Mark Clattenburg will referee next month’s highly-anticipated Emirates FA Cup final between Manchester United and Crystal Palace at Wembley Stadium.

The 41-year-old is among the most experienced officials in England after beginning his career in the 2000/01 season, starting in the Football League before graduating to the Premier League in 2004/05. Since then, the Durham-born whistle-blower has consistently taken charge of top-flight matches.

Followers of the UEFA Champions League will have spotted Clattenburg refereeing Wednesday’s semi-final first leg between Atletico Madrid and Bayern Munich at the Vicente Calderon stadium. He will also be seen at this summer’s Euro 2016 tournament as one of two English officials, the other being Martin Atkinson.

Clattenburg has officiated 42 matches in all competitions so far this season, distributing 137 yellow cards and six red cards. United fans may remember him from the Reds' 3-2 win at Southampton, the 0-0 draws with Manchester City and West Ham United at Old Trafford and most recently the 1-0 win at Liverpool.

His assistant referees at Wembley will be John Brooks and Andrew Halliday, while Neil Swarbrick will serve as the fourth official.

REDS TO WEAR WHITE
Meanwhile, on the subject of the FA Cup final, it has also been confirmed that United will wear white shirts, black shorts and white socks at Wembley and Crystal Palace will wear their traditional home colours. The fixture will of course be a repeat of the 1990 final when Alex Ferguson's men also wore white in the initial 3-3 draw, before switching back to red for the 1-0 replay victory secured by Lee Martin's goal.