Championship referee & match officials appointments for matchday 27

Matchday 27 of the Championship gets underway on 12th January and the EFL has revealed the referees who will be officiating each game.

With that in mind, Football FanCast has created a handy list of who will be in charge of each game this weekend, as well as their respective statistics for the season thus far, per Transfermarkt.

Note: Officials for Coventry City v Leicester City and QPR v Watford are still to be confirmed.

Hull City v Norwich City

Referee: Andrew Kitchen

Championship action kicks off for the weekend on Friday night as Fabio Carvalho will have the opportunity to make his debut for Hull City when they host Norwich City.

The man with the cards will be Andrew Kitchen, and he will have assistants James Wilson and Lee Venamore working the lines for this occasion.

Both sides have played once with Kitchen as the referee this season and both sides tasted defeat – Norwich losing 6-2 to Plymouth Argyle and Hull losing 3-1 to West Brom.

Birmingham City v Swansea City

Referee: Matthew Donohue

The Tony Mowbray era will begin at Birmingham City on Saturday with a home clash against Swansea City.

It is fair to say neither side are where they will want to be in the Championship table, but three points for Birmingham could take them to within one point of the Swans.

Matthew Donohue has been designated this clash and will be working alongside assistants Paul Hodskinson and Bhupinder Singh Gill.

Donohue has officiated one game for each side already this season, where neither side were able to claim three points – five yellow cards were also dished out in each game.

Cardiff City v Leeds United

Referee: Oliver Langford

Leeds take a trip to south Wales on Saturday afternoon looking to keep the pressure on those chasing automatic promotion, while hosts Cardiff will be seeking to maintain their play-off challenge.

Oliver Langford will officiate this one, with Hristo Karaivanov and Greg Read manning the flanks. Ed Duckworth is the fourth official.

Langford has been a busy man this term with 15 second-tier games to his name so far, along with Leicester’s FA Cup victory at Millwall last weekend. In terms of these two teams, neither have tasted success in three games under his jurisdiction, with the Bluebirds’ defeat to QPR and draw at Stoke a potentially negative omen for the hosts.

Huddersfield Town v Plymouth Argyle

Referee: Tom Nield

It has been a turbulent 2023/24 campaign for Huddersfield Town thus far, but they may feel there is a real opportunity to get three huge points on the board this weekend when fellow strugglers Plymouth Argyle land at the John Smith’s Stadium.

Referee Tom Nield will be in charge of this clash in Yorkshire and will be aided by linesmen Mark Stevens and Shaun Hudson, whilst Adam Herczeg will be sandwiched between the two managers.

Nield is yet to referee either of these sides this season and is also yet to show a red card in any of his previous five Championship games.

Millwall v Middlesbrough

Referee: Andy Davies

Millwall will be hoping they can capitalise on what has been a hectic few days for Middlesbrough with action in the FA Cup against Premier League side Aston Villa last weekend, before facing Chelsea in the Carabao Cup.

Perhaps Boro will have one eye on their upcoming second leg against the Blues, but referee Andy Davies will have his full attention on the proceedings at The Den. He will have the assistance of linesmen Graham Kane and Andrew Dallison.

Millwall have played under the watch of Davies this season, but it did not end well for them as they lost 2-1 at home to Blackburn Rovers back in October.

Preston North End v Bristol City

Referee: Sam Barrott

Despite sitting in 11th and 14th respectively, Preston North End and Bristol City still remain only a handful of points off the play-off spots, making Saturday’s clash a huge opportunity for both to close the gap.

And in charge of the game will be Sam Barrott, who will have Jonathan Hunt and Daniel Leach working alongside him as the linesmen at Deepdale.

Bristol City have played under Barrott this term, but it did not end as they would have wanted given they lost to Birmingham and saw Rob Dickie handed his marching orders.

Rotherham United v Stoke City

Referee: Keith Stroud

Bottom-of-the-league Rotherham United will welcome Stoke City to the New York Stadium on Saturday, where they may see an opportunity to earn three points and close the gap to safety.

Keith Stroud is the man who will hold the whistle for this clash and will be assisted by Sam Lewis and Matthew Smith running the lines.

This term, neither side have played under Stroud’s watch, however, the referee has dished out a whopping average of just over five yellow cards per game in the Championship thus far, providing a taster of what could await both teams.

Southampton v Sheffield Wednesday

Referee: Lewis Smith

Southampton’s push to return to the Premier League will continue on Saturday when a resurgent Sheffield Wednesday travel down to the south coast.

Lewis Smith will referee just his fifth Championship game of the term at St Mary’s, and will have the assistance of Blake Antrobus and Robert Hyde down the lines and the experienced Bobby Madley as fourth official.

Smith’s last Championship game came in November, and it involved the Owls, who lost to Bristol City when Barry Bannan was shown a straight red card.

West Bromwich Albion v Blackburn Rovers

Referee: Stephen Martin

West Bromwich Albion will be hoping their promotion charge can make an instant bounce back following their loss last time out to Swansea as the Baggies welcome Blackburn Rovers to The Hawthorns.

Stephen Martin will be the man overseeing this 3pm kick-off and will have Mark Dwyer and Adam Crysell holding the flags on the sidelines.

Both clubs have played under Martin this term, however, neither side emerged victorious; West Brom’s draw against Plymouth saw a staggering nine yellow cards handed out.

Ipswich Town v Sunderland

Referee: Sam Allison

Perhaps the pick of the fixtures comes in Saturday’s late kick-off as the high-flying Ipswich Town take on Sunderland, who come into the game off the back of an FA Cup derby defeat to bitter rivals Newcastle United.

After making his Premier League debut just a few weeks ago, Sam Allison is now back in Championship action and will be working alongside linesmen Alex James and Robert Merchant at Portman Road.

Neither side have played under Allison’s watch this season, the 43-year-old is still waiting to hand out his first straight red card of the campaign; ironically, neither of these clubs have been shown a straight red card thus far.