Monday 6 March 2017 14:01, UK
Mark Clattenburg will miss this weekend’s Premier League and FA Cup quarter-final fixtures as he heads off to referee his first game in Saudi Arabia.
Clattenburg, who has been officiating in the top flight for 12 years, will take charge of the prestigious Crown Prince Cup Final, in Riyadh's 70,000 seater King Fahd International Stadium.
He will take charge of around 20 matches per season in Saudi, where he is also charged with improving referee standards for the country.
Clattenburg's first match in professional football was in 2000, a Third Division (now Sky Bet League Two) match between Chesterfield and York City at the age of just 25 - which was then a post-war record.
Just four years later he had climbed the ladder to the Premier League, where his first match was Crystal Palace's game with Everton.
The County Durham-born official took charge of the Euro 2016 final and last season's Champions League and FA Cup finals.
