Mark Clattenburg

Early career

Clattenburg took up refereeing in 1990 as part of The Duke of Edinburgh's Award and became an assistant referee in the Northern League at the age of 18, later refereeing in that league. He became both a Football Conference referee and a Football League assistant referee in the year 1999, but was rapidly promoted to the National List of Football League referees in the year 2000. He had served only one year as an assistant – a record shared with Steve Baines – but his promise led to quicker promotion. His debut Football League match (at the age of just 25 – a one-time post-War record) was between Chesterfield and York City on 12 August 2000, with Chesterfield winning 4–1. Clattenburg was then fourth official for the 2001–02 Division Three play-off final and the 2002–03 FA Trophy final.

In the 2002–03 season, Clattenburg was chosen to referee two play-off semi-finals – the Division One first-leg 1–1 draw between Nottingham Forest and Sheffield United at the City Ground on 10 May 2003, and the Division Two second-leg home win by Queens Park Rangers over Oldham at Loftus Road on 14 May 2003, which put Rangers through to the final.

On 15 May 2004, he refereed the Division One play-off semi-final first leg between Ipswich and West Ham at Portman Road, which was won 1–0 by the home side. He followed this with his appointment at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium on 31 May 2004 for the Division Three play-off final contested by Mansfield and Huddersfield, which required a penalty shoot-out after the match finished 0–0 after extra time. Huddersfield won the shoot-out 4–1. Also in 2004, he became a Select Group referee in the Premier League, and his debut match at this level was the 3–1 away win by Everton against Crystal Palace on 21 August of the same year.

Turning professional

Clattenburg became a FIFA referee in 2006, at the age of 30, two years after turning professional. He refereed Alan Shearer's testimonial match on 11 May 2006; he is a Newcastle United fan, and therefore does not referee competitive games involving Newcastle. On 9 September 2006, he took charge of a qualifying match for the 2007 UEFA Under-17s Championship at the Gradski Stadium in Skopje between Macedonia and Denmark; the away side winning 3–0.

Clattenburg was appointed to control both legs of the 2006–07 FA Youth Cup final, contested by Liverpool and Manchester United, firstly at Anfield on 16 April 2007 which United won 2–1, and then at Old Trafford on 26 April 2007 which Liverpool won 1–0. With the aggregate scores tied, Liverpool won the subsequent penalty shoot-out 4–3 after a goalless 30 minutes of extra time.

On 6 August 2008 he refereed his first UEFA Champions League match, a 5–0 away win for Fenerbahçe at MTK Budapest. Clattenburg's next Champions League appointment was not until 3 November 2010 when he took charge of Auxerre's 2–1 win over visitors Ajax.

Investigation of debts

In the summer of 2008, Clattenburg was appointed to referee that year's FA Community Shield, with Dave Richardson and Ian Gosling assisting and Andre Marriner acting as fourth official. However, Clattenburg was later suspended from refereeing, pending an investigation into alleged debts incurred by companies to which he was connected. The Shield match between Portsmouth and Manchester United took place at Wembley Stadium with Peter Walton as the replacement referee.

Following the investigation into his personal life and business debts, the referees' governing body dismissed Clattenburg, citing a breach of contract. He denied all the allegations and appealed the decision. On 18 February 2009 the Professional Game Match Officials Board reinstated Clattenburg as a Select Group referee. However, he had to serve an eight-month suspension, starting from his original suspension date of 6 August 2008. Upon his return from suspension on the last day of the Premier League season, Clattenburg refereed a fixture between Manchester City and Bolton Wanderers — his only domestic appointment of that season.

2010–2012

Clattenburg was involved in a FIFA World Cup as a fourth official for a 2010 tournament UEFA qualifying group 4 match between Azerbaijan and Russia in Baku on 14 October 2009.

He has officiated qualifying games for Euro Championships. In September 2010 he oversaw a 4–4 draw between Portugal and Cyprus, a qualifier for Euro 2012. His first Euro Championship match however was a 4–0 home win for Denmark over Liechtenstein, a group F qualifier for Euro 2008.

Clattenburg was appointed to referee the 2012 Football League Cup Final between Liverpool and Cardiff City at Wembley Stadium on 26 February 2012. Liverpool won a penalty shoot-out 3–2 after extra-time finished 2–2. He booked three players during the game and was rarely required to interpret any contentious moments.

He officiated at UEFA Euro 2012 as an additional assistant referee in a team led by Howard Webb. Clattenburg was also selected as one of the referees for the men's football tournament of the 2012 Olympic Games. He officiated a group stage match between Egypt and New Zealand at Old Trafford, a quarter-final between Senegal and Mexico and the gold medal match between Brazil and Mexico, both at Wembley Stadium.

Clattenburg refereed a Champions League quarter-final first leg on 2 April 2013 between Bayern Munich and Juventus after which former Bayern player Paul Breitner praised the official for letting the game flow. Bayern won the leg 2–0.

Chelsea complaint about inappropriate language

On 28 October 2012, Chelsea made a formal complaint to the Football Association against Clattenburg about his alleged use of "inappropriate language" towards John Obi Mikel during that day's match against Manchester United. The Professional Game Match Officials Board stated that Clattenburg would fully co-operate with the FA's investigation into the complaint. The PGMOB also announced that it would not appoint Clattenburg to referee a match the following weekend, stating that the "scrutiny [of Clattenburg] would detract from the match and be unfair to the clubs and the supporters of both sides."

The Metropolitan Police Service launched its own investigation into the allegations after it received a complaint from the Society of Black Lawyers, but later dropped it after no victims came forward. The FA cleared Clattenburg of wrongdoing nine days later and charged Mikel with using "threatening and/or abusive and/or insulting words and/or behaviour" towards Clattenberg after the match. Mikel was found guilty and received a three match ban and a £60,000 fine.

Clattenburg said in a statement: "To know you were innocent of something but that there was the opportunity for it to wreck your career was truly frightening. I hope no referee has to go through this in the future. We are proud of the integrity of refereeing in this country and I cannot wait to be back involved in the game I care so passionately about".

He returned to duty as the fourth official for a fixture between Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United on 25 November and refereed Norwich City's Premier League game at Southampton for his full return to the middle on 28 November 2012. He was given a standing ovation by sections of both sets of fans at the game, which finished 1–1, and the managers of both clubs said afterward that they were "pleased to see him back".

2013–2015

Clattenburg refereed the 2013 FA Community Shield between Wigan Athletic and Manchester United at Wembley Stadium on 11 August 2013. United won the match 2–0.

In October 2014 Clattenburg was stood down for one weekend following a Crystal Palace game for phoning manager Neil Warnock and for traveling from the fixture alone (Premier League rules state all match officials mustn't be involved in any conversation with a manager after a game and require all officials to travel to and from a match together).

2016

Clattenburg was selected as the referee of the 2016 UEFA Champions League final between Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid in Milan on 28 May. Real Madrid went on to win the match 5–3 after extra time and penalties.

Clattenburg officiated at several matches at UEFA Euro 2016. Late in a group match between the Czech Republic and Croatia in Saint-Étienne, Croatian hooligans threw flares onto the pitch and Clattenburg suspended the match for several minutes, moving the players away from the burning flares to avoid injury.

Clattenburg went on to referee the UEFA Euro 2016 Final between Portugal and France on 10 July, which Portugal went on to win 1–0 after extra time.

Clattenburg refereed the 2016 FA Cup Final, contested by Crystal Palace and Manchester United. The match went to extra-time and Manchester United won by a scoreline of 2–1.

Premier League exit

On 16 February 2017, the Premier League announced that Clattenburg has left his position as referee for a future role within the Saudi Arabian Football Federation.

List of notable matches

Notable matches refereed by Clattenburg include:

Card statistics

Statistics are for all competitions, including domestic, European and international. No records are available prior to 2000–01.

Personal life

Clattenburg went to Cramlington Community High School and was chosen to play football for them, as well as South Northumberland. He is divorced from his wife with whom he lived in Chester-le-Street, and they had one son during the marriage. In August 2016 Clattenburg had the logos of the UEFA Champions League and the 2016 UEFA Euro tattooed on his arm to remember the final of the two competitions that he officiated that year.