Atkinson will leave his role as Select Group Manager at Professional Game Match Officials Limited to take up his new post in early December.
Atkinson officiated in England’s top flight for 20 years, accumulating the second-highest number of Premier League referee appointments [463]. He took charge of the FA Cup Final in 2011, the 2014 League Cup final and 2015 UEFA Europa League final. He also refereed three games at UEFA EURO 2016 and was an elite category FIFA referee for a number of years, officiating regularly in the UEFA Champions League. He took charge of his last Premier League match in 2022 before taking up a new role within PGMOL.
Atkinson will now work alongside Head of Refereeing Willie Collum as VAR Manager, replacing former PGMOL colleague Jon Moss, who left to become Head of Referees at Football Australia.
Collum said: “I am delighted to appoint someone of Martin’s calibre as VAR Manager. I did not expect to be recruiting for that position again so quickly, but Jon received a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and went with our best wishes.I am pleased Martin has agreed to continue the considerable work undertaken to date in optimising our VAR operation and I’m sure our VAR officials and match officials generally will look forward to working with someone of Martin’s experience at Clydesdale House, as will I and the rest of my team.”
Atkinson said: “I look forward to this exciting new challenge and have been impressed by the significant strides forward Scottish football has taken with VAR implementation since Willie arrived. I look forward to continuing that work and supporting Willie, the match officials and the team at the Scottish FA.”