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'''Michael Riley''' is an [[England|English]] [[referee]] from [[West Yorkshire]] who oversees matches in both [[the Football League]] and the [[FA Premier League]]. Riley became a national Football League referee in 1994, having previously served five years on their assistant referees list. He was later granted FIFA international status in 1999[http://www.football-league.premiumtv.co.uk/page/RefereeProfilesDetail/0,,10794~628215,00.html] allowing him to officiate international fixtures.
In 2002 Riley refereed the English [[FA Cup]] Final between [[Arsenal F.C.|Arsenal]] and [[Chelsea F.C.|Chelsea]], which he later stated was "the highlight of my career"[http://www.thefa.com/TheFA/Refereeing/NewsAndFeatures/Postings/2002/09/25106.htm]. He also officiated (poorly) in the 2004 [[Carling Cup]] Final between [[Bolton Wanderers F.C.|Bolton Wanderers]] and [[Middlesbrough_F.C.|Middlesbrough FC]] and the [[2005]] [[Football League Championship]] playoff final between [[West Ham United F.C.|West Ham United]] and [[Preston North End F.C.|Preston North End]]. Riley also headed England's refereeing team alongside assistants Philip Sharp and Glenn Turner at the UEFA [[Euro 2004]] finals[http://www.officialsports.co.uk/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=15;t=000008;p=0]
Riley was involved in controversy on [[30 March]] [[2006]] after the dubious sending off a [[PFC Levski Sofia|Levski]] player in a [[UEFA Cup 2005-06]] quarter final tie, Levski vs [[FC Schalke 04|Schalke]]. He showed a second yellow card to [[Cedric Bardon]], although it was disputed whether there was any contact between him and the opposition player. After the game, Levski's president Todor Batkov called Riley a "British homosexual".[http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=61301].
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