Paul Tierney and his team will take charge of the FA Community Shield supported by McDonald’s at Wembley next month.
The traditional curtain-raiser to the 2021-22 campaign sees Emirates FA Cup winners Leicester City take on Premier League champions Manchester City on Saturday 7 August (5.15pm BST, live on ITV).
Lancashire-based Tierney will be joined for the game by assistant referees Ian Hussin (Liverpool CFA) and Neil Davies (London CFA), fourth official Peter Bankes (Liverpool CFA) and reserve assistant referee Nick Hopton (Derbyshire CFA).
Darren England (Sheffield & Hallamshire CFA) and Dan Robathan (Norfolk CFA) will act as video assistant referee [VAR] and assistant VAR respectively.
“I feel really privileged and grateful to have received this appointment and wish to thank the FA for giving me this opportunity to referee the first showpiece match of the season,” said Tierney.
“I’m very lucky to have a great team to be working with and am really looking forward to having Wembley Stadium with fans inside for what should be an excellent game.”
FA Referees’ Committee chairman David Elleray added: “We’re delighted at the prospect of the 2021 FA Community Shield being played in a partially-full Wembley Stadium and, with this return to ‘normality’ match, we have returned to the usual precedent of appointing a team of match officials who have not officiated in the FA Community Shield before.
“The on-field officials are all FIFA officials with a wealth of experience in domestic and international football and they are ably supported by reserve assistant referee Nick Hopton and, at Stockley Park, the video match officials, Darren England and Dan Robathan.
“Building on the exceptional summer of English football, the Shield launches what we all hope will be an exciting and successful season and we have every confidence that the high performance levels of the referees and VARs in the EUROs will be replicated in this match.”
Leicester City’s outfield players will be wearing blue shirts, white shorts and blue socks, while their goalkeeper will be in all black, and Manchester City’s outfield players will wear white shirts, green shorts and white socks, with their goalkeeper in all yellow.
