Chris Beath

The Queenslander Chris Beath made his A-League refereeing début on 28 September 2008 in the match between Wellington Phoenix FC and Sydney FC. His 15-year national league career ended in the 2023 decider for the A-League/A-League Men’s Grand Final, in addition to refereeing the inaugural FFA Cup (now Australia Cup) Final in 2014, an achievement that a referee is accorded only once in their career.

Having been included on the FIFA International List of Referees in 2011, Beath was added to the AFC Elite Match Official Panel in 2013, regularly officiating matches in the AFC Champions League, as well as qualifiers for the AFC Asian Cup and FIFA World Cup. Across a 13-year international career, Beath refereed at two AFC Asian Cups in 2015 and 2019, two AFC U-23 Championships in 2018 and 2020 (including the 2020 Final), and the FIFA U-17 World Cup in 2019, and was a video official at the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup.

The years from 2019 to 2023 saw Beath’s international achievements progress even further, with him refereeing the men’s gold medal match at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and the final of the 2021 FIFA Club World Cup (Chelsea FC-Palmeiras), and being appointed to the panel for the FIFA World Cup in Qatar 2022 where he refereed the Mexico-Poland game on 22 November at Doha’s Stadium 974. Beath’s final appointment as an international referee was as video match official for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup played in Australia and New Zealand.