As his tattooed forearms reveal, 2016 has been a big year for Mark Clattenburg.
Having taken charge of the FA Cup final between Manchester United and Crystal Palace, the referee was the man in the middle for the all-Madrid Champions League final in Milan a week later.
The following month, he completed an impressive hat-trick when he was given the honour of overseeing the final of the European Championships between host nation France and eventual winners Portugal.
With just days left of a memorable 2016, what the 41-year-old has probably suspected for a long time has now been confirmed (by Globe Soccer Awards, at least) : Mark Clattenburg is the best referee on the planet.
Having beaten off several other of Fifa’s leading officials, Clattenburg, who was in charge for the Premier League match between Crystal Palace and Watford on Boxing Day, received the trophy in Dubai.
Premier League official Mark Clattenburg has been voted the best referee in the world at the prestigious Globe Soccer Awards in Dubai.
— John Cross (@johncrossmirror) December 27, 2016
As news of his triumph filtered through, football fans were clearly delighted for Clattenburg, who becomes the first ever Premier League official to receive the award.
Mark Clattenburg will be thinking about a new tattoo after winning the global referee award #markclattenburg pic.twitter.com/iEKaPyyqD5
— Andy B (@andy_bell__) December 27, 2016
So, Mark Clattenburg has been voted the best referee in the world?.. pic.twitter.com/qcAARbToOj
— Five Year Plan (@FYPFanzine) December 27, 2016
https://twitter.com/moodyblues1878/status/813810178210562048
was the panel made up of a certain Mr Clattenburg and Mrs Clattenburg ?
— Andrew Donald (@eddiefarren13) December 27, 2016
https://twitter.com/Isurusy/status/813813736335085568
To his credit, Clattenburg used his acceptance speech to acknowledge that every referee – himself included – is capable of making mistakes and called for even more technology to be introduced to help officials.
