MLS Ref Stats

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Chris Penso🇺🇸

282 matches as referee, 2011–2026. Active.

Nationality
United States

See Chris Penso’s appearances in other positions (4th official, VAR) →

Career

Matches
282
Goals (per match)
801 (2.84)
Fouls (per match)
6629 (23.51)
Yellow cards (per match)
1148 (4.07)
Red cards (per match)
75 (0.27)
Penalties (per match)
106 (0.38)

By season

Season Matches YC/M RC PEN F/M
2026 10 5.10 1 5 23.80
2025 21 4.14 4 5 22.81
2024 12 5.33 3 6 21.25
2023 20 5.05 4 4 24.65
2022 23 5.48 5 9 22.13
2021 19 2.95 4 10 24.00
2020 2 2.50 0 0 23.50
2019 27 3.52 8 14 21.96
2018 20 4.40 7 8 23.95
2017 27 4.30 8 11 24.33
2016 20 3.75 7 6 23.65
2015 20 4.60 7 8 25.95
2014 10 4.40 4 5 25.70
2013 18 3.28 6 3 24.50
2012 20 2.15 2 3 21.05
2011 13 3.54 5 9 24.00
All seasons 282 4.07 75 106 23.51
Season Matches YC/M RC PEN F/M Record PPG
2026 10 2.60 1 4 11.50 4–3–3 1.500
2025 21 2.19 2 3 11.38 11–5–5 1.810
2024 12 3.00 1 3 10.17 7–2–3 1.917
2023 20 2.75 2 3 13.40 11–7–2 2.000
2022 23 2.52 5 4 11.39 9–5–9 1.391
2021 19 1.32 0 6 11.84 13–2–4 2.158
2020 2 0.50 0 0 8.00 1–1–0 2.000
2019 27 1.63 4 5 10.93 15–6–6 1.889
2018 20 1.95 4 6 12.20 7–6–7 1.350
2017 27 1.67 5 6 11.74 11–7–9 1.481
2016 20 1.40 3 4 11.35 11–7–2 2.000
2015 20 2.25 2 7 12.25 15–0–5 2.250
2014 10 2.30 3 3 14.20 5–3–2 1.800
2013 18 1.78 3 0 11.67 7–4–7 1.389
2012 20 0.80 1 0 9.70 8–7–5 1.550
2011 13 1.69 4 9 10.92 7–3–3 1.846
All seasons 282 1.92 40 63 11.57 142–68–72 1.752
Season Matches YC/M RC PEN F/M Record PPG
2026 10 2.50 0 1 12.30 3–3–4 1.200
2025 21 1.95 2 2 11.43 5–5–11 0.952
2024 12 2.33 2 3 11.08 3–2–7 0.917
2023 20 2.30 2 1 11.25 2–7–11 0.650
2022 23 2.96 0 5 10.74 9–5–9 1.391
2021 19 1.63 4 4 12.16 4–2–13 0.737
2020 2 2.00 0 0 15.50 0–1–1 0.500
2019 27 1.89 4 9 11.04 6–6–15 0.889
2018 20 2.45 3 2 11.75 7–6–7 1.350
2017 27 2.63 3 5 12.59 9–7–11 1.259
2016 20 2.35 4 2 12.30 2–7–11 0.650
2015 20 2.35 5 1 13.70 5–0–15 0.750
2014 10 2.10 1 2 11.50 2–3–5 0.900
2013 18 1.50 3 3 12.83 7–4–7 1.389
2012 20 1.35 1 3 11.35 5–7–8 1.100
2011 13 1.85 1 0 13.08 3–3–7 0.923
All seasons 282 2.15 35 43 11.94 72–68–142 1.007

Card reasons

Yellow cards issued, by reason.
ReasonYellow cards
Unsporting behaviour 888
Dissent 127
Delaying the restart 89
Persistent infringement 29
Failing to respect distance 11
Entering the referee review area 2
Entering the field without permission 1
Persistent offences 1
Total1148
Red cards issued, by reason.
ReasonRed cards
Second caution 31
Serious foul play 18
Violent conduct 17
Denying an obvious goal-scoring opportunity (foul) 5
Spitting 2
Abusive language 1
Denying an obvious goal-scoring opportunity (handball) 1
Total75

Yellow card reasons are unofficial, and some of them may be incorrect. “???” means we are missing a reason for a card.

Cards by minute

Cards issued, by minute band.
MinuteCardsShare
1–15 76
16–30 149
31–45 (incl. added time) 227
46–60 173
61–75 240
76–90 (incl. added time) 385
Extra time 3
Shootout 1

By club

Chris Penso’s record by club.
ClubMatches GFGAYCOpp YCRCOpp RCPENOpp PEN
Atlanta United FC 15 25 21 32 39 4 3 2 6
Austin FC 11 17 16 31 35 0 0 2 2
CD Chivas USA 8 7 11 19 7 2 1 0 3
CF Montréal 28 45 39 61 48 1 3 5 6
Charlotte FC 4 6 11 8 4 0 0 0 1
Chicago Fire FC 17 25 30 43 24 3 2 2 4
Colorado Rapids 25 31 33 47 39 7 3 5 6
Columbus Crew 30 48 41 44 66 2 3 7 2
D.C. United 19 24 31 40 30 2 0 1 2
FC Cincinnati 10 22 15 21 21 1 1 1 1
FC Dallas 20 32 25 44 47 1 5 2 7
Houston Dynamo FC 28 23 44 50 51 6 4 4 7
Inter Miami CF 6 8 15 18 13 1 0 1 0
LA Galaxy 25 37 38 61 52 2 1 5 5
Los Angeles FC 14 30 21 21 40 1 2 4 2
Minnesota United FC 11 12 17 20 29 0 1 3 2
Nashville SC 8 7 6 20 20 1 0 2 3
New England Revolution 22 28 35 43 41 2 4 3 6
New York City FC 26 36 46 58 50 1 3 5 5
Orlando City SC 22 32 33 43 51 5 2 3 2
Philadelphia Union 26 40 36 51 57 4 5 5 4
Portland Timbers 30 42 28 66 56 3 3 4 7
Real Salt Lake 22 19 31 46 39 4 3 6 3
Red Bull New York 27 52 24 56 56 2 5 4 2
Saint Louis CITY SC 3 6 5 4 5 0 0 1 1
San Diego FC 2 2 2 5 6 0 1 0 0
San Jose Earthquakes 18 20 29 43 30 5 3 3 2
Seattle Sounders FC 26 52 26 36 58 5 6 11 5
Sporting Kansas City 25 34 36 43 56 3 7 3 3
Toronto FC 21 21 35 42 51 4 2 6 4
Vancouver Whitecaps FC 15 18 21 32 27 3 2 6 3

Most frequent crewmates

Crewmate position: All On field AR AR1 AR2 4th official VOR VAR AVAR
Chris Penso’s most frequent crewmates, AR2.
OfficialPositionsMatches
Jeremy Hanson AR2 (21) 21
Mike Rottersman AR2 (19) 19
Gianni Facchini AR2 (8) 8
Jeff Hosking AR2 (8) 8
Kevin Klinger AR2 (8) 8
Andrew Bigelow AR2 (7) 7
Nick Uranga AR2 (7) 7
Oscar Mitchell-Carvalho AR2 (6) 6
Brian Dunn AR2 (5) 5
Chris Elliott AR2 (5) 5
Eric Boria AR2 (5) 5
Eric Proctor AR2 (5) 5
Eric Weisbrod AR2 (5) 5
Logan Brown AR2 (5) 5
Meghan Mullen AR2 (5) 5
Adam Garner AR2 (4) 4
Apolinar Mariscal AR2 (4) 4
Bill Dittmar AR2 (4) 4
Brian Poeschel AR2 (4) 4
Cameron Blanchard AR2 (4) 4
Corey Rockwell AR2 (4) 4
Cory Richardson AR2 (4) 4
Danny Thornberry AR2 (4) 4
Eduardo Jeff AR2 (4) 4
Jeff Muschik AR2 (4) 4

Match log

On the match index →
Chris Penso’s match log, newest first.
DateRoundHome ScoreAwayFoulsYCRCPEN
2025-04-26 Reg HOU 2–0 ATX 31 8 0 0
2025-04-12 Reg ORL 0–0 NYRB 25 5+1 1 0
2025-03-29 Reg DC 1–2 CLB 22 5 0 0
2025-03-22 Reg MIN 2–2 LA 28 5 0 1
2025-03-01 Reg LAFC 1–0 NYC 22 3 0 0
2025-02-22 Reg ATX 1–0 SKC 28 7 0 0
2024-10-19 Reg ATX 3–2 COL 20 7 0 2
2024-10-02 Reg VAN 0–3 SEA 19 4+1 1 1
2024-09-21 Reg NYRB 2–2 ATL 21 4 0 2
2024-09-14 Reg TOR 2–1 ATX 26 8 0 0
2024-07-20 Reg PHI 3–0 NSH 21 6 0 0
2024-07-06 Reg CIN 6–1 MIA 27 6+1 1 0
2024-06-29 Reg LAFC 3–0 COL 21 5+1 1 0
2024-06-19 Reg TOR 1–2 NSH 23 3 0 1
2024-06-15 Reg LA 4–2 SKC 16 4 0 0
2024-05-29 Reg NYRB 3–1 CLT 19 5 0 0
2024-05-25 Reg SJ 1–1 ATX 22 5 0 0
2024-05-15 Reg PHI 1–2 NYC 20 7 0 0
2023-11-11 KO HOU 1–1 RSL 22 4 0 0
2023-11-07 KO ATL 4–2 CLB 17 3 0 0
2023-10-04 Reg CIN 1–2 NYRB 33 9+1 1 1
2023-09-30 Reg NSH 0–0 SEA 15 3 0 0
2023-09-23 Reg SKC 2–1 HOU 27 7 1 1
2023-09-16 Reg LAFC 4–2 LA 28 5 0 0
2023-08-30 Reg MIA 0–0 NSH 25 6 0 0

Includes at least one match with a substitution involving the named official. Appearances are credited by starting position; cards are credited to the official who issued them, so the two can differ.

This match had a mid-match referee substitution.

This website’s default convention is for yellow card counts and per-match averages to exclude yellow cards which triggered a player’s expulsion for receiving a second caution in the same match. When this toggle is active, those values are adjusted to include such yellow cards.