Cüneyt Çakır (, born 23 November 1976) is a Turkish former

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

referee. He is best known for refereeing the 2015 UEFA Champions League Final between

Juventus Juventus Football Club (; from , ), commonly known as Juventus or colloquially as Juve (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Turin, Piedmont, who compete in Serie A, the ...

and

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

. He was FIFA listed since 2006 and a member of the

UEFA The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...

Elite since 2010 until his retirement. He is currently serving as head of the Refereeing Department of the Georgian Football Federation.

Honors and awards

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.

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 The UEFA European Under-21 Championship, the UEFA Under-21 Championship or simply the Euro Under-21, is a biennial football competition contested by the European men's under-21 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Since 1992, the comp ...

finals in Sweden in 2009, taking charge of three games including England's penalty shoot-out win against the hosts in the semi-finals. He made his

debut as the fourth official in the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

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 The 2008 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2008 or simply Euro 2008, was the 13th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial association football, football tournament contested by the member nations of UEFA ( ...

qualifying fixtures. 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 Football Club Twente (), sometimes known internationally as FC Twente Enschede, is a Dutch professional Association football, football club from the city of Enschede. The club was formed in 1965 by the merger of 1926 Dutch champions Sportclub E ...

and Schalke 04 in December 2008. He oversaw

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies in a loop on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...

's second-leg win against

Hamburger SV Hamburger Sport-Verein e.V. (), commonly known as Hamburger SV () or Hamburg (), or HSV (), is a German sports club based in Hamburg, with its largest branch being its Association football, football department. Though the current HSV was founde ...

in the 2009–10 UEFA Europa League semi-finals, 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

, ending in a one all draw. He also took charge of the match between Chelsea F.C. and Spartak Moscow on 3 November 2010. He has also refereed the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

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 Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

. On 24 April 2012, he officiated the Champions League semi final between

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly known as FC Barcelona and colloquially as Barça (), is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of ...

and Chelsea at Camp Nou,

. 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 Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

and

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. 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, 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 Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

and

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. Çakır showed 9 yellow cards in this match in 120 minutes. On 1 July 2012, he was appointed as fourth official in the Euro 2012 final, between Spain and Italy, which was played in

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

. 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 is the List of cities in Japan, second-largest city in Japan by population as well as by area, and the country's most populous Municipalities of Japan, municipality. It is the capital and most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a popu ...

. Corinthians won 1–0. Çakır sent off Gary Cahill in this game. On 5 March 2013, Çakır officiated the

match between

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

and

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

, and, in a controversial 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 refereed the

2014 FIFA World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for list of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil fr ...

semi-final match, between Netherlands and Argentina, which was played in

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

. Çakır officiated the 2015 UEFA Champions League Final match between

and

at Olympiastadion in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

, Germany on 6 June 2015 and showed his yellow card three times. 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

at Vicente Calderón in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

, 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, as well as the round of 16 game between

and Chelsea at the Stamford Bridge on 20 February 2018. Later, he refereed the semifinal second leg match between

and Bayern Munich in Madrid. Çakır officiated the first round of the 2018–19 UEFA Champions League between

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

and Paris Saint-Germain. and the famous

Liverpool F.C Liverpool Football Club is a professional football club based in Liverpool, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Founded in 1892, the club joined the Football League the following year and has ...

semi final comeback vs

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.

FIFA World Cup

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cakir, Cuneyt 1976 births Living people Sportspeople from İzmir Turkish football referees UEFA Champions League referees UEFA Europa League referees 2014 FIFA World Cup referees Insurance agents UEFA Euro 2012 referees UEFA Euro 2016 referees 2018 FIFA World Cup referees Football referees at the 2016 Summer Olympics UEFA Euro 2020 referees