 Çakır refereeing in 2018 | |||
| Born | (1976-11-23)23 November 1976 (age 49) 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 | |
Cüneyt Çakır (Turkish pronunciation:[ˈd͡ʒynejtˈt͡ʃakɯɾ], born 23 November 1976) is a Turkish formerfootballreferee. He is best known for refereeing the2015 UEFA Champions League Final betweenJuventus andBarcelona. He wasFIFA listed since 2006 and a member of theUEFA Elite since 2010 until his retirement. He is currently serving as head of the Refereeing Department of theGeorgian Football Federation.[1]
Çakır was identified as the second best referee in the world by the International Federation of Football History and Statistics based on statistics from 2010-2020.[2]
Çakır has refereed more than 250 matches including 12Super Lig derbies, 5 of those beingThe Intercontinental Derby; betweenFenerbahçe vsGalatasaray, and was selected for theUEFA 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.[3]
He made hisUEFA debut as the fourth official in theUEFA Champions League first qualifying round game betweenSkonto FC andSliema Wanderers in July 2003. He took charge of two matches at the2007 UEFA European Under-19 Championship in Austria and was also the referee for twoUEFA Euro 2008 qualifying fixtures.[4]
He made his international refereeing debut in the2008–09 UEFA Cup, taking charge of two games including the group stage fixture betweenFC Twente andSchalke 04 in December 2008. He oversawFulham's second-leg win againstHamburger SV in the2009–10 UEFA Europa League semi-finals,[5] one of seven matches he refereed in total in the competition that season.
On 29 September 2010, Çakır made his debut in theChampions League Group Stage when he took charge of group D fixture betweenRubin Kazan andBarcelona, ending in a one all draw.[6] He also took charge of the match betweenChelsea F.C. andSpartak Moscow on 3 November 2010.[7]
He has also refereed theUEFA Europa League Round of 32 matchManchester 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 offMario Balotelli and dished out eight yellow cards. In August 2011, he officiated five games including semi-final between Portugal and France2011 FIFA U-20 World Cup, hosted inColombia.
On 24 April 2012, he officiated theChampions Leaguesemi final betweenFC Barcelona andChelsea atCamp Nou,Barcelona. Çakır sent offJohn Terry in first half. Chelsea won 3–2 on aggregate. On 11 June 2012, he officiated the Euro 2012 Match betweenUkraine andSweden.
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,[8] though he also angered the Irish by sending offKeith 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 betweenPortugal andSpain. Çakır showed 9 yellow cards in this match in 120 minutes.[9]
On 1 July 2012, he was appointed as fourth official in theEuro 2012 final, between Spain and Italy, which was played inKyiv. On 14 December 2012, he was appointed to referee the2012 FIFA Club World Cup Final, betweenCorinthians andChelsea, which was played inYokohama. Corinthians won 1–0. Çakır sent offGary Cahill in this game.
On 5 March 2013, Çakır officiated theUEFA Champions League match betweenManchester United andReal Madrid, and, in a controversial[10] decision, sent off Manchester United playerNani during the second half of the match, a decision that enragedAlex Ferguson in what became his last Champions League game as United manager.
On 9 July 2014, he refereed the2014 FIFA World Cup semi-final match, between Netherlands and Argentina, which was played inSão Paulo.
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Çakır officiated the2015 UEFA Champions League Final match betweenJuventus andBarcelona atOlympiastadion inBerlin, Germany on 6 June 2015 and showed his yellow card three times.[11][12] In 2016, Çakır officiated two different semi-final matches in the2015–16 UEFA Champions League, the first referee to do so. Çakır officiated the2016–17 UEFA Champions League semi-final match betweenAtlético Madrid andReal Madrid atVicente Calderón inMadrid, Spain on 10 May 2017.
In the2017–18 UEFA Champions League, Çakır officiated the group stage match betweenBayern Munich andParis Saint-Germain in December 2017,[13] as well as the round of 16 game betweenFC Barcelona andChelsea at theStamford Bridge on 20 February 2018.[14] Later, he refereed the semifinal second leg match betweenReal Madrid and Bayern Munich in Madrid.[15]
Çakır officiated the first round of the2018–19 UEFA Champions League betweenLiverpool andParis Saint-Germain.[16] and the famousLiverpool F.C semi final comeback vsFC 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.[17]
| 2014 FIFA World Cup – Brazil | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Match | Venue | Round |
| 17 June 2014 |  Brazil – Mexico | Fortaleza | Group stage |
| 26 June 2014 |  Algeria – Russia | Curitiba | Group stage |
| 9 July 2014 |  Netherlands – Argentina | São Paulo | Semi-Final |
| 2018 FIFA World Cup – Russia | |||
| Date | Match | Venue | Round |
| 15 June 2018 |  Morocco – Iran | Saint Petersburg | Group stage |
| 26 June 2018 |  Nigeria – Argentina | Saint Petersburg | Group stage |
| 11 July 2018 |  Croatia – England | Moscow | Semi-final |
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