Izuchukwu OkosiReferee Stuart Attwell will lead the team of match officials to take charge of the FA Community Shield between Manchester City and Arsenal.
Taking place at Wembley Stadium on Sunday 6 August (4pm BST), the current Emirates FA Cup and Premier League champions City will meet League runners-up Arsenal to contest the traditional curtain-raiser of the new season.
And Attwell has been appointed as match referee for the game, backed by a team of six other officials.
His assistant referees will be Tim Wood and Dan Robathan with fourth official John Brooks and reserve assistant referee Steve Meredith.
Backing them up will be video assistant referee Michael Salisbury and assistant VAR Neil Davies.
“It’s obviously a key point in the calendar for everybody involved in the game and with the two teams that are involved in it, they were both at the forefront of playing some fantastic football last season,” said Attwell, following his appointment.
“I think it bodes well to deliver a fantastic match on the pitch but also set the scene for what might be coming over the next nine or ten months in the new season.
“I still get a special buzz refereeing at Wembley and I’ve been fortunate enough to have refereed there over the years on a few occasions, events such as the League Cup Final and FA events like the Vase, Trophy and most recently, one of last season’s FA Cup semi-final.
“There is something special and unique about Wembley, so to walk out and be involved in a match of that quality with players of that calibre, it is something to enjoy the experience at the time and look back on with a real sense of pride.”
The FA Community Shield match officials team:
Referee: Stuart Attwell (Birmingham FA)
Assistant referee: Tim Wood (Gloucestershire FA)
Assistant referee: Dan Robathan (Norfolk FA)
Fourth official: John Brooks (Leicestershire and Rutland FA)
Reserve assistant referee: Steve Meredith (Nottinghamshire FA)
VAR: Michael Salisbury (Lancashire FA)
AVAR: Neil Davies (London FA)
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
In October 2004, Okosi joined Complete Communications Limited, publishers of Complete Sports newspaper and Complete Football magazine as a reporter and later script writer for the Complete Sports studio.
He worked there for 13 years until October 2017.
Okosi also worked various times as Correspondent, Content creator and Editor at Sports Market International Magazine, Opera News, All Nigeria Soccer Media and Iconic Media Watch.
He also undertook freelance writing gigs for some local and international organizations.
Okosi is a member of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Association of Movie Producers (AMP), Association of Voiceover Artistes of Nigeria (AVOA), Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) and Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
He has been part of cast in some Nollywood movies and radio dramas including Blood Money 2, Scores To Settle, Dead End 2, Another Campus Tale and Battle Line.
Aside mainstream media and the entertainment industry, he has interests in scouting/unearthing of talents in the sports and creative sectors, exports business and property development.
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