Anthony Backhouse will officiate the upcoming match as Ipswich Town travels to face Coventry City in the final game of 2025. The experienced referee from Cumbria will be taking the lead in a match where both teams will be eager to secure a strong finish to the year.
This will mark Backhouse’s first assignment involving Ipswich Town this season, having last officiated a match featuring the team in April 2023, where they triumphed 2-0 against Derby County at Pride Park. In that fixture, he issued seven yellow cards, three of which were handed to Ipswich players—Christian Walton, Harry Clarke, and Wes Burns.
Since joining the EFL referee list in 2017, Backhouse has officiated just three Ipswich games. His previous matches with the club include a 2-0 victory over Accrington Stanley in September 2022 and a 1-1 draw against Coventry during an FA Cup tie in December 2019, which took place at St Andrews.
For Coventry, Backhouse has officiated 13 of their matches prior to this one, with six of those games occurring at the CBS Arena. His last game in charge of the Sky Blues resulted in a 3-2 loss to Wrexham, marking their first defeat of the current campaign, where Kieffer Moore, a former Ipswich player, notably scored a hat-trick.
In the ongoing 2025/26 season, Backhouse has overseen 13 games across all competitions, comprising 12 Championship fixtures and one League Cup match, where he has issued 60 yellow cards but no red cards to date. Assisting him in this match will be Paul Hodskinson and Matthew Smith, while Stephen Martin is set to be the fourth official. As Kieran McKenna’s squad looks to end the year on a high note, all eyes will be on how Backhouse manages the game.