Alan Kelly named MLS Referee of the Year

Irish referee Alan Kelly has been named the Major League Soccer Referee of the Year for 2015.

Kelly, in his second season as an MLS ref, previously spent 14 years on the League of Ireland Referees Panel where he officiated numerous FAI Cup finals and over 350 games. He was the inaugural winner of the PFAI Referee of the Year in 2006 and went on to win the honour four more times. He has also served as a UEFA official in International qualifiers and Champions League games.

The Cork native took charge of 21 games in the MLS in 2015, which ranked as second most matches by a PRO ref. The vote, which is spread across club, media and player votes, saw Alan dominate in all three areas.

He won 58% of the club votes, 55% of the media votes and 49% of the players votes. His nearest rival, Baldomero Toledo, gained 22% (Club), 27% (Media) and 16% (Player) of the vote.

The winner of Assistant Referee of the Year was Corey Parker.

Kelly was back in Ireland this week where he attended the FAI Cup Final in the Aviva Stadium. 

Passport..check! A few days back on 'The Island'. Looking forward to seeing some family and friends and hopefully a decent game of football

— Alan Kelly (@alanrefkelly) November 6, 2015

Great to be back to see the #FAICupFinal at the Aviva today. Great to see familiar faces both on the pitch and in the stands #LOI

— Alan Kelly (@alanrefkelly) November 9, 2015

Extratime.ie interview with Alan Kelly back in 2010