West Ham United v Tottenham Hotspur
Premier League, London Stadium, Sunday 4 May 2025, 2pm BST
Referee: Michael Oliver
Assistant Referees: Stuart Burt & James Mainwaring
Fourth Official: Ruebyn Ricardo
VAR: Darren England
Assistant VAR: Peter Wright
Michael Oliver will referee a West Ham United fixture for the 45th time in his illustrious career on Sunday.
Born in Ashington, Northumberland, 40-year-old Oliver was introduced to refereeing by his father, Clive, at the age of 14 and became the youngest referee to officiate at Wembley Stadium when he took charge of the 2007 Conference National play-off final, aged just 22.
He had already become the youngest Football League assistant referee and referee when he became the youngest Premier League referee when he took charge of Birmingham City’s 2-1 win over Blackburn Rovers on 21 August 2010, aged 25.
Since that historic day, Oliver has refereed two FA Cup finals, in 2018 and 2021, the EFL Cup final in 2016, UEFA Super Cup final in 2022 and EFL Championship Play-Off final in 2023.
He is five short of 400 Premier League appointments and has passed 750 matches at all levels, including 39 in the UEFA Champions League.
Included in those 755 games were three at UEFA Euro 2020, three at the 2022 FIFA World Cup and Euro 2024, in addition to Nations League ties and international friendlies.
Oliver will be assisted by Stuart Burt and James Mainwaring.
Burt, like Oliver, got into refereeing through his father and also worked at Euro 2024 alongside Sunday’s referee. Burt has officiated matches in the National League and run the line for 38 West Ham games previously.
Mainwaring will be running the line for a Hammers fixture for the 22nd time, the fourth time this season, but the first assisting Oliver.
The fourth official will be Ruebyn Ricardo who, like Oliver, has been a trailblazer for young match officials. Ricardo became the youngest Black referee to officiate an EFL fixture when he took charge of Crewe Alexandra versus Swindon Town in April 2023, aged just 25. He has refereed 39 matches this season, including 25 in the EFL and three in the FA Cup.
Darren England will look after Video Assistant Referee duties.
The 39-year-old has been busy in 2024/25, refereeing 17 Premier League and five other matches, including West Ham’s 3-2 defeat at Brighton & Hove Albion last weekend, and serving as VAR for eight games in domestic and UEFA competitions.
England will be assisted at Stockley Park by Peter Wright, an experienced official with nearly 150 EFL League One and Two matches refereed.
