Mark Clattenburg

Mark Clattenburg (born 13 March 1975) is an English former professional football referee.

Clattenburg is a former member of the Premier League and the Durham County Football Association and also a former FIFA referee.

Born in Consett, County Durham, 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.

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.

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 against the decision.

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.

His first Euro Championship match however was a 4–0 home win for Denmark over Liechtenstein, a group F qualifier for Euro 2008.

On 18 February 2009 the Professional Game Match Officials Board reinstated Clattenburg as a Select Group referee.

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.

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.

In September 2010 he oversaw a 4–4 draw between Portugal and Cyprus, a qualifier for Euro 2012.

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.

He has refereed a number of notable matches, including the 2016 UEFA Champions League final and the UEFA Euro 2016 final.

Clattenburg is considered one of the most highly-rated European referees of his generation.

Clattenburg is the lead referee in the BBC 2024 revival of TV show Gladiators.