Former Premier League official Mark Clattenburg revealed his favourite defender of all time, and his surprising choice was known for being a difficult player to referee. Clattenburg took charge of 291 top-flight games across 13 seasons, and also represented the English FA at World Cups, European Championships, and in the UEFA Champions League.
Since his days on the pitch came to an end, Clattenburg has taken up multiple different roles in football, including a stint in an advisory capacity with Nottingham Forest. He has also been outspoken about some of his varying football opinions, and provided a shocking answer when naming which defender was his favourite in the sport's history.
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Mark Clattenburg Names Pepe as His Favourite Ever Defender
The Portuguese madman picked up 16 red cards in his career
The 50-year-old revealed, as per the Daily Mail, that former Real Madrid and Porto centre-half Pepe was his favourite defender of all time, despite his notoriety as a loose cannon on the field. The Portuguese legend finished his career having won three Champions Leagues, three La Liga titles, and a European Championship, cementing himself as one of the best defenders of his generation.
However, when he saw red, the 42-year-old was incredibly hard to control. Yet, that nastiness was part of what made him appeal so much to Clattenburg:
"The best centre half I ever saw, even though he could be quite nasty, was Pepe. I watched him at Euro 2024, the last international tournament he played in, and he was incredible for his age at 41.
"What I liked about him was that he was an incredible pro – he achieved an awful lot. It was like the ball was glued to him, every ball that went in, he was at the other end of. As a referee, I had run-ins with him. In the Champions League final in particular – but he was just an incredible centre half."
Interestingly, Clattenburg's comments seem to contradict previous remarks he made about the former Madrid man, having previously labelled him as one of the most annoying players to officiate.
"He was a wind-up merchant and not fun to referee one bit, you had to be on your guard constantly. Everyone always asks about the incident in the 2016 Champions League final when I did that thing with my tongue as he was rolling around on the floor, play-acting. In my head, I was thinking: 'How soft are you for a big man?'
"He did it twice in that game, trying to get an Atletico Madrid player sent off. Another referee might have fallen for it but I'd done my homework and, while you should try not to pre-judge, I knew exactly what his mentality was like and I needed that knowledge to handle him."
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All statistics courtesy of Transfermarkt - accurate as of 24/06/2025.