Frank De Bleeckere

Belgian football referee

Frank De Bleeckere (; born 1 July 1966) is a Belgian former football referee. He had been a referee since 1984, and an international (FIFA) official since 1998. De Bleeckere refereed in his first World Cup finals in Germany, and had to pass a late fitness test following injury. He had been appointed by UEFA as one of twelve referees to officiate UEFA Euro 2008 matches, and was in charge of the semi final between Spain and Russia.

De Bleeckere made his international refereeing debut on 24 March 2001 in a FIFA World Cup 2002 Qualifier between Cyprus and the Republic of Ireland. In 2005, he oversaw the FIFA U 17 World Championship final between Mexico and Brazil. De Bleeckere also refereed four other games in the tournament, prior to the final. One year later, in 2006, he was in charge of the 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifier between Turkey and Switzerland.

In 2005, De Bleeckere was in charge of the UEFA Champions League quarter final match between Liverpool and Juventus. During the UEFA Champions League 2006 07 group stage, De Bleeckere was chosen for the match between Chelsea and Barcelona. Later in the tournament, De Bleeckere was appointed by UEFA to referee the semi final between Milan and Manchester United on 2 May 2007. In the 2007–08 tournament, he was assigned the first knockout round first leg game between Liverpool and Internazionale. He sent off Inter defender Marco Materazzi for two yellow card offences after 30 minutes, leaving Inter to play with 10 men for the rest of the match. Next, he was appointed for the quarter final clash between Roma and Manchester United. In 2008–09, De Bleeckere took charge of the Group E match between Manchester United and Celtic at Old Trafford on 21 October 2008. In 2009–10, De Bleeckere took charge of the semi final match between Barcelona and Inter on 28 April 2010. He was involved in a couple of controversial decisions. He gave Inter midfielder Thiago Motta a red card for an offense on Sergio Busquets. In 2010–11, De Bleeckere was in charge of the second leg of the 2010–11 semi final match between FC Barcelona and Real Madrid C. F.

On 28 August 2009, De Bleeckere took charge of the UEFA Super Cup match between the UEFA Champions League winners FC Barcelona and the last UEFA Cup winners FC Shakhtar Donetsk at the Stade Louis II in Monaco.

De Bleeckere issued five yellows during this match, including Arsenal defender Emmanuel Eboué and Manchester United defender Gabriel Heinze.

De Bleeckere showed five yellows again, including cards given to Japanese goalkeeper Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi and Croatian defender Darijo Srna. Also he awarded a penalty to Croatia.

Paul Robinson and Jamie Carragher were booked for time wasting, and John Terry for dangerous play. For Ecuador, three players made their way into the referee's book.

De Bleeckere refereed the match between Italy and Ukraine and had few troubles on the pitch, the match featured very few harsh tackles and De Bleeckere only had to hand out three yellow cards.

He was preselected as a referee for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. He showed a second yellow and inevitably a red card to Loukas Vyntra on the 43rd minute during Switzerland Greece game that was held on 5 September 2009. He officiated the match between the United States and Algeria on 23 June.