Who do Premier League referees support and where are they from? Home towns, favourite clubs for 2023/24 officials

Premier League referees are instructed to uphold complete neutrality when overseeing matches in the world's most renowned domestic league. However, this professional obligation doesn't restrict referees from openly supporting their favourite football teams when they're off duty.

In fact, many referees are huge football fans themselves, which prompts an intriguing question: which football teams do Premier League referees support?

Keith Hackett, the former chief of Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL), the entity responsible for appointing referees for Premier League games, explained the process of selecting a referee for a specific match: "At the beginning of every season the referees' background information is audited.

"They complete a form that includes who they support, the history of if they've played the game and with the addresses where they are residing. That gives you a picture that comes into use when you're appointing. It's about ensuring, for example, you wouldn't appoint a Sheffield-based ref for a Sheffield team."

VAR apology list by PGMOL for all decisions in league this year

Fans are naturally inclined to generate conspiracy theories and scour the internet for any signs of bias, especially when a decision goes against their team. And it's not only the supporters: Nottingham Forest caused a storm when they posted a statement on social media suggesting it was inappropriate for Stuart Attwell, who is a fan of Forest's relegation rivals Luton Town, to be on VAR for their match with Everton.

Three extremely poor decisions - three penalties not given - which we simply cannot accept.

We warned the PGMOL that the VAR is a Luton fan before the game but they didn’t change him. Our patience has been tested