Chris Kavanagh is an English football referee born in Ashton-under-Lyne, Greater Manchester, England on 4 September 1985. He made his Premier League debut on 8 April 2017. He has been FIFA-listed since 2019. Kavanagh has been a Premier League official since 2017 and has also built a growing UEFA profile.
Chris Kavanagh is an English football referee born in Ashton-under-Lyne, Greater Manchester, England on 4 September 1985. He made his Premier League debut on 8 April 2017. He has been FIFA-listed since 2019. Kavanagh has been a Premier League official since 2017 and has also built a growing UEFA profile. He is part of the current Premier League officiating pool and is regularly relevant for pre-match analysis, appointment previews and VAR-focused discussion.
In the 2025/26 Premier League season, Kavanagh has officiated 21 league matches, averaging 22.71 fouls, 0.29 penalties, 3.86 yellow cards and 0.10 red cards per game. Those numbers point to a balanced but firm profile, with a solid middle ground in disciplinary terms. For The VAR Verdict, that statistical snapshot helps readers understand the disciplinary threshold and general tone he has shown this season.
Chris Kavanagh is presented with a data-first profile based on publicly available information and the statistics entered in the referee database.
Referee style: Balanced but firm.
