Arguably the most successful and well respected Australian match official in world football, Shield has officiated at all levels of the game from junior grassroots, to the former National Soccer League, A-League, Asian Champions League, AFC Asian Cup and FIFA World Cups.

FFA’s Head of Hyundai A-League Lyall Gorman believes that Shield’s appointment is of great benefit to the refereeing ranks and football in Australia.

“We are very proud to announce that a referee of the calibre of Mark Shield will head our new Referee Development structure,” Gorman said.

“His knowledge and experience in relation to refereeing is unequalled in the Australian football community and is a fantastic role model for all aspiring referees.

“We look forward to working closely with Mark and assisting him to develop refereeing within Australia."

Shield was honoured and excited to be appointed as the FFA Director of Referees.

“Having been out of the game for three years, it was the right time for me to get back into the game," he said.

“There is definitely an opportunity to build on our previous successes for what will be one of the most anticipated Hyundai A-League seasons since the inaugural one.

“I’m really excited about the challenge of working with the all referees, clubs, coaches and players to improve the profile of referees in Australia."

As part of his new role, Mark will be responsible for:
-          Implementation of national policy, technical direction and the National curriculum
-          Overall responsibility for the coaching of match officials
-          Responsible for the performance of Elite Match Officials
-          Appointments to national competitions: Hyundai A-League, Westfield W-League, National Youth League and National Titles
-          Develop International Pathways/Opportunities

Born and bred in Brisbane, Shield began his refereeing career at the age of 12 and quickly rose through the refereeing ranks officiating senior matches at 16, his first professional matches at 22, received his FIFA international badge at 25 years and at 28 was selected to referee at the 2002 FIFA World Cup in Korea/Japan where he officiated the Group H match between Belgium and Tunisia.

At the 2006 FIFA World Cup, Shield refereed the Group D match between Iran & Angola and the Group H match between Tunisia and Saudi Arabia. Based on those two performances, Shield was then appointed Fourth Official for the Round of 16 match between Brazil and Ghana, the Quarter Final match between Brazil and France and the Semi-Final between Portugal and France.

A foundation referee of the A-League, Shield refereed 61 matches from 2005-2008 which included the first three Hyundai A-League Grand Finals (2006, 2007 & 2008).

He was named the Hyundai A-League Referee of the year on three occasions (2005/06, 2006/07 & 2007/08) which he added to the other Australian Referee of the Year Awards that he collected from the 2001/02, 2002/03 and 2003/04 National Soccer League seasons.

Shield was selected to referee the AFC Champions League 2006 final between Syria's Al Karama and Korea's Jeonbuk Motors and the following year Shield was appointed to referee the final of the AFC Asian Cup 2007 between Iraq and Saudi Arabia. At the end of 2007 was the first Australian referee to be named the AFC Referee of the Year.

Shield retired from refereeing professionally in September 2008 to concentrate on family and business interests.