Martin Atkinson

2006 FA Community Shield

Atkinson refereed the 2006 FA Community Shield match at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. Liverpool defeated Chelsea 2–1, with Atkinson issuing four yellow cards during the course of the game.^[9]

13 August 2006

Chelsea	1–2	Liverpool
Shevchenko  44' Ballack  7' Lampard  15' Diarra  68'	(Report)	Riise  9' Crouch  80' Alonso  61'

Millennium Stadium, Cardiff

Attendance: 56,275

2008 FA Trophy final

Atkinson was appointed to referee the 2008 FA Trophy Final at Wembley Stadium, which was contested between Ebbsfleet United and Torquay United.^[10]

10 May 200814:30

Ebbsfleet United	1–0	Torquay United
McPhee  45' Smith McCarthy Moore	(Report)	Rice

Wembley Stadium, London

Attendance: 40,186

2011 FA Cup final

Atkinson was appointed to officiate the 2011 FA Cup Final. Manchester City defeated Stoke City 1–0; Atkinson issued two yellow cards to two Stoke players during the match.

14 May 201115:00

Manchester City	1–0	Stoke City
Y. Touré  74'	Report	Wilkinson  76' Huth  40'

Wembley Stadium, London

Attendance: 88,643

2014 Football League Cup final

Atkinson refereed the 2014 Football League Cup Final between Manchester City and Sunderland. City won the match 3–1 and Atkinson cautioned two players, both late in the second half.

2 March 201414:00

Manchester City	3–1	Sunderland
Touré  55' Nasri  56' Navas  90' Negredo  90'	Report	Borini  10' Alonso  90'

Wembley Stadium, London

Attendance: 84,697

Europe and international

On 13 October 2007, Atkinson refereed a group C qualifier for Euro 2008 between Moldova and Turkey. The game in the Moldovan capital Chişinău ended a 1–1 draw, with the referee showing two yellow cards.

Atkinson issues a yellow card during a fixture between Birmingham City and Arsenal in 2010

The 2008–09 season was the first that Atkinson took charge of UEFA Champions League games. That season he refereed four matches, including FC Zürich against Real Madrid and Inter Milan versus Dynamo Kiev.^[11] In 2010 Atkinson was fourth official to Howard Webb for the Champions League final in Madrid. He issued his first Champions League red card on 5 April 2011, to Cristian Chivu of Inter Milan as they lost 5–2 at home to Schalke.

Atkinson officiated multiple matches during 2010 FIFA World Cup Qualification, including the UEFA group 4 qualifying game between Germany and Finland in Hamburg on 14 October 2009 which ended 1–1.^[12] One month later, he officiated Portugal's 1–0 qualifying win over Bosnia and Herzegovina.

He officiated at Euro 2012 as an additional assistant referee in a team with referee Howard Webb.^[13]

The referee abandoned a Euro 2016 qualifying match in Belgrade between Serbia and Albania on 14 October 2014 when violence on the pitch and crowd disturbances broke out after a quadcopter was flown over the pitch bearing a flag of Greater Albania.^[14]

Atkinson refereed a UEFA European Championship game for the first time on 12 June 2016 – a Euro 2016 group match between Germany and Ukraine.^[15]

With no English officials going to the 2018 World Cup for the first time since 1938,^[16] Atkinson refereed his last international match in March 2018, a friendly between Argentina and Italy at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester. ^[17] Atkinson would referee the Manchester Derby at the same stadium less than a month later, a performance that was criticised by former Premier League referee Keith Hackett who stated "if you want proof of why no English referee will be represented at this summer’s World Cup finals in Russia, look no further than Martin Atkinson’s performance at the Etihad on Saturday."^[18]