Cüneyt Çakır

Cüneyt Çakır (Turkish pronunciation: [ˈd͡ʒynejt ˈt͡ʃakɯɾ], born 23 November 1976) is a former Turkish football referee. He is best known for refereeing the 2015 UEFA Champions League Final between Juventus and Barcelona. He was FIFA listed since 2006 and a member of the UEFA Elite since 2010 until his retirement.

Cüneyt Çakır
Çakır refereeing in 2018
Born (1976-11-23) 23 November 1976
Istanbul, Turkey
Other occupation Insurance agent
Domestic
Years League Role
2001–2022 Süper Lig Referee
International
Years League Role
2006–2022 FIFA listed Referee
2010–2022 UEFA Elite Referee

Honors and awards

His refereeing style has been highly regarded as accurate and controversial at the same time. Recently, he has been identified as the second best referee in the world by the International Federation of Football History and Statistics based on statistics from 2010-2020.[1]

Refereeing career

Çakır has refereed more than 250 matches including 12 Super Lig derbies, 5 of those being The Intercontinental Derby; between Fenerbahçe vs Galatasaray, and was selected for the UEFA European Under-21 Championship finals in Sweden in 2009, taking charge of three games including England's penalty shoot-out win against the hosts in the semi-finals.[2]

He made his UEFA debut as the fourth official in the UEFA Champions League first qualifying round game between Skonto FC and Sliema Wanderers in July 2003. He took charge of two matches at the 2007 UEFA European Under-19 Championship in Austria and was also the referee for two UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying fixtures.[3]

He made his international refereeing debut in the 2008–09 UEFA Cup, taking charge of two games including the group stage fixture between FC Twente and Schalke 04 in December 2008. He oversaw Fulham's second-leg win against Hamburger SV in the 2009–10 UEFA Europa League semi-finals,[4] one of seven matches he refereed in total in the competition that season.

On 29 September 2010, Çakır made his debut in the Champions League Group Stage when he took charge of group D fixture between Rubin Kazan and Barcelona, ending in a one all draw.[5] He also took charge of the match between Chelsea F.C. and Spartak Moscow on 3 November 2010.[6]

He has also refereed the UEFA Europa League Round of 32 match Manchester City-Dynamo Kyiv on 17 March 2011, which ended in a 1–0 win for Manchester City, but Dynamo Kyiv advanced to the next round after winning 2–1 on aggregate. In that game, Çakır sent off Mario Balotelli and dished out eight yellow cards. In August 2011, he officiated five games including semi-final between Portugal and France 2011 FIFA U-20 World Cup, hosted in Colombia.

On 24 April 2012, he officiated the Champions League semi final between FC Barcelona and Chelsea at Camp Nou, Barcelona. Çakır sent off John Terry in first half. Chelsea won 3–2 on aggregate. On 11 June 2012, he officiated the Euro 2012 Match between Ukraine and Sweden.

On 18 June, he also officiated the Euro 2012 match between Italy and Ireland where he was very precise when it came to ensuring the correct distance from the ball to the defenders' wall,[7] though he also angered the Irish by sending off Keith Andrews one minute before the end of the game. He was not selected to referee a quarter-final game but he was fourth official in the England v Italy quarter-final. On 27 June 2012, he officiated the semi-final match between Portugal and Spain. Çakır showed 9 yellow cards in this match in 120 minutes.[8]

On 1 July 2012, he was appointed as fourth official in the Euro 2012 final, between Spain and Italy, which was played in Kyiv. On 14 December 2012, he was appointed to referee the 2012 FIFA Club World Cup Final, between Corinthians and Chelsea, which was played in Yokohama. Corinthians won 1–0. Çakır sent off Gary Cahill in this game.

On 5 March 2013, Çakır officiated the UEFA Champions League match between Manchester United and Real Madrid, and, in a controversial[9] decision, sent off Manchester United player Nani during the second half of the match, a decision that enraged Alex Ferguson in what became his last Champions League game as United manager. On 9 July 2014, he was appointed to referee the 2014 FIFA World Cup semi-final match, between Netherlands and Argentina, which was played in São Paulo.

Çakır in October 2016

Çakır officiated the 2015 UEFA Champions League Final match between Juventus and Barcelona at Olympiastadion in Berlin, Germany on 6 June 2015 and showed his yellow card three times.[10][11] In 2016, Çakır officiated two different semi-final matches in the 2015–16 UEFA Champions League, the first referee to do so. Çakır officiated the 2016–17 UEFA Champions League semi-final match between Atlético Madrid and Real Madrid at Vicente Calderón in Madrid, Spain on 10 May 2017.

In the 2017–18 UEFA Champions League, Çakır officiated the group stage match between Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain in December 2017,[12] as well as the round of 16 game between FC Barcelona and Chelsea at the Stamford Bridge on 20 February 2018.[13] Later, he refereed the semifinal second leg match between Real Madrid and Bayern Munich in Madrid.[14]

Çakır officiated the first round of the 2018–19 UEFA Champions League between Liverpool and Paris Saint-Germain.[15] and the famous Liverpool F.C semi final comeback vs FC Barcelona in the 2018/19 season of the Champions League

On 5 August 2022, via the official website of the Turkish Football Association his retirement was announced; from now on, his role will consist in training young referees.[16] Çakır officiated a friendly between Turkey and the Czech Republic on 19 November 2022 as his last game.

FIFA World Cup
2014 FIFA World Cup – Brazil
DateMatchVenueRound
17 June 2014 Brazil –  MexicoFortalezaGroup stage
26 June 2014 Algeria –  RussiaCuritibaGroup stage
9 July 2014 Netherlands –  ArgentinaSão PauloSemi-Final
2018 FIFA World Cup – Russia
DateMatchVenueRound
15 June 2018 Morocco –  IranSaint PetersburgGroup stage
26 June 2018 Nigeria –  ArgentinaSaint PetersburgGroup stage
11 July 2018 Croatia –  EnglandMoscowSemi-final

References
  1. "Son 10 yıla damga vurdu! Cüneyt Çakır dünyada 2. sırada" [It has marked the last 10 years! Cuneyt Cakir is 2nd in the world]. Star.com.tr (in Turkish). 14 January 2021. Archived from the original on 14 April 2021. Retrieved 14 April 2021.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  2. "Referee Cüneyt Çakır takes Turkey to Euro 2012 semifinals -- and beyond". Today's Zaman. 1 July 2013. Archived from the original on 2 July 2012. Retrieved 5 March 2013.
  3. The FA
  4. "Fulham FC - Fulham FC".
  5. "2010-11 UEFA Champions League Group D". UEFA.com. 29 September 2010. Retrieved 17 October 2010.
  6. "Chelsea v Spartak". UEFA.com. 3 November 2010. Retrieved 10 November 2010.
  7. "Referee likes his distance". goalpost.tv. 18 June 2012. Retrieved 15 June 2021.
  8. "Referees confirmed for quarter-finals". UEFA.com. 20 June 2012. Retrieved 5 March 2013.
  9. Cüneyt Çakır ruins second leg between Manchester United and Real Madrid (5 March 2013).
  10. "Çakır to referee UEFA Champions League final". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 18 May 2015. Retrieved 6 June 2015.
  11. "En büyük final Cüneyt Çakır'ın". Hürriyet (in Turkish). 18 May 2015. Retrieved 18 May 2015.
  12. "Cüneyt Çakır to officiate in Bayern clash". Paris Saint Germain. Archived from the original on 27 June 2018. Retrieved 2 May 2018.
  13. "The infamous Cuneyt Cakir set to be referee for Barcelona-Chelsea game". Calciomercato.com. Retrieved 19 February 2018.
  14. "Cüneyt Çakır to referee Madrid second leg". FC Bayern Munich. Retrieved 2 May 2018.
  15. "Liverpool v Paris St-Germain". BBC Sport. 17 September 2018. Retrieved 18 September 2018.
  16. "Cüneyt Çakır'dan Teşekkür Mesajı". TFF (in Turkish). 5 August 2022. Retrieved 20 November 2022.
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