England’s footballers might have fallen well short of the Euro 2016 final, but some of their compatriots could yet be involved.
No, we’re not talking about the English-born players who scored for Wales in their victory over Belgium in the quarter-finals. ::cough cough::
Rather, County Durham’s own Mark Clattenburg could be tasked with refereeing the final.
The referees for the two semi-finals have been announced and, as The Times‘ Henry Winter points out, Clattenburg is among the contenders for the final.
He may secretly be backing Portugal to beat Wales, though, as that would give him the best chance of being selected.
Refs: Portugal v Wales – Jonas Eriksson; Germany v France – Nicola Rizzoli. So Mark Clattenburg could do final if Wales don't progress.
— Henry Winter (@henrywinter) July 4, 2016
The last instance of an English referee being put in charge of a major final came in 2010, when Howard Webb was the man in the middle for the World Cup final between Spain and The Netherlands.
Webb booked 13 players across the game and sent off Dutch centre-back John Heitinga, while Nigel de Jong stayed on the pitch for a ‘tackle’ on Xabi Alonso which many feel warranted a red card.
Clattenburg has taken charge of three games in the competition so far: Croatia’s group stage draw with the Czech Republic, Italy’s 2-0 victory over Belgium, and the last-16 clash between Poland and Switzerland.
He has handed out 13 yellow cards and no reds across the three games.
