2024 Carabao Cup final referee chosen

Chris Kavanagh has been chosen as the referee for the 2024 Carabao Cup final between Liverpool and Chelsea at Wembley Stadium on Sunday.

The Premier League official will be joined by assistants Mark Scholes and James Mainwaring. Tim Robinson has been designated the fourth official, with John Brooks on VAR duty.

38-year-old Kavanagh hails from Ashton-under-Lyne in Greater Manchester and has been officiating at the top level in the Premier League since 2017. He has previously refereed at Wembley in 2021 when given the honour of taking charge of the Championship play-off final won by Brentford.

Kavanagh has, however, had run-ins with Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp in the past when it comes to decisions made on the pitch.

Most recently, that was in December when the referee didn’t award a penalty to the Reds for an apparent handball by Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard. Another related to a penalty given to Everton during a Merseyside derby in 2021, while was not happy with Kavanagh’s performance as a VAR official when Liverpool faced Tottenham Hotspur at the end of that year.

The Carabao Cup final will see English football’s first major silverware of 2023/24 handed out, with Liverpool against Chelsea a repeat of the 2022 final when the Reds won on penalties.

Liverpool will hope the next few months provide a fitting send-off for Klopp as he prepares to leave the club in summer, with this potentially the first of four trophies up for grabs as they also continue to compete in the Premier League, FA Cup and Europa League.

Chelsea, meanwhile, have the opportunity to add a trophy to an otherwise difficult season that has seen even more player turnover and a struggle just to get into the top half of the Premier League.

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