# Darren Cann (assistant referee)

Darren Cann (born 22 January 1969). is a Premier League assistant referee (linesman). In 2010, he officiated both The UEFA Champions League Final and The FIFA World Cup Final. Cann is also the most experienced Premier League official ever, having officiated more than 563 Premier League matches to date.

## Football career

Before becoming a referee Cann played professional football, firstly playing in the youth team for Norwich City and then being signed by Steve Coppell for Crystal Palace where he played in the same Youth Team as Gareth Southgate and later played up front alongside Ian Wright.

## Refereeing career

Cann began refereeing in Norfolk, England in 1991. He received several promotions working his way up the football pyramid and then began officiating in the Football League as an Assistant Referee in 2001 before being promoted to The Premier League in 2005. In the same year Cann represented his country for the first time as an International Assistant Referee on a UEFA Cup match between FC Zürich and Legia Warsaw refereed by Howard Webb.

## FA Cup Final

At the end of Cann's first season in the Premier League, he was honoured with being appointed to the FA Cup Final. In doing so, Cann became only the third former player to officiate an FA Cup Final. The 2006 FA Cup Final was played between Liverpool and West Ham United. The match finished 3-3 with Liverpool winning 3-1 on penalties and is remembered for Steven Gerrard's last minute equaliser which was voted in a BBC poll as the greatest FA Cup Final goal of the last 50 years.

## UEFA Champions League Final

In 2010, Cann was appointed by UEFA to officiate The Champions League Final. The 2010 UEFA Champions League Final was contested by Bayern Munich and Inter Milan and played at the Santiago Bernabéu stadium, home of Real Madrid. The match was refereed by Howard Webb with Cann and Mike Mullarkey as his two Assistant Referees. In an interview for the BBC, Cann described being appointed to the Champions League Final as "the highlight of my career so far".
Just 50 days later the same English refereeing team of Webb, Cann and Mullarkey would receive the highest refereeing honour possible and officiate The World Cup Final, becoming the only referee team in history to officiate the UEFA Champions League Final and The FIFA World Cup Final in the same season.

## World Cup Final

On 11 July 2010 the English refereeing trio of Howard Webb, Darren Cann and Mike Mullarkey officiated The World Cup Final. The match was played between Spain and Netherlands with Spain winning 1-0 after extra time. Four years later Webb, Cann and Mullarkey were once again selected by FIFA to represent England at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. They were the only refereeing trio in the world to officiate at both the 2010 and 2014 World Cups.

## Achievements/honours

After officiating the two most prestigious matches in world football, the Professional Footballers' Association (P.F.A) honoured the trio by awarding them the P.F.A Special Merit Award at the 2011 P.F.A Awards. It is the only time a refereeing team has received such recognition. Regarding the award Cann is quoted as saying "it certainly is an honour to be recognised by such an esteemed body as the P.F.A. It means an awful lot". Previous recipients of this award include Pelé, Sir Alex Ferguson, Sir Bobby Robson and George Best.
Cann is one of the most experienced assistant referees in the world having represented England at two World Cups (2010 and 2014), the UEFA Champions League Final, Euro 2008, The FIFA Confederations Cup, The FIFA U-20 World Cup and The FIFA U-17 World Cup. In total, Cann has represented his country over 125 times on International matches. He’s also officiated over 1,000 professional matches and holds the record for the most Premier League appearances ever by a match official, 563 as of October 2024.

## Personal life

Cann lives in Norfolk, England and has two children.