Tony Chapron

Who is Tony Chapron?

Tony Chapron is a French football referee.

Born in Flers, Orne, Chapron took up refereeing in 1996 in conjunction with his job as an educational advisor. He has been a full-time referee since 1998 and became an international referee in 2007. That year, a flare thrown by fans at a match between Lyon and Saint-Étienne resulted in police firing tear gas into the crowd, and Chapron ordered the players to retreat to the changing rooms for 20 minutes.

Prior to 2008, the only international matches he had refereed were qualifying matches, but in October 2008, Chapron took charge of the UEFA Cup first round second leg between Aston Villa and Litex Lovech; he showed two yellow cards – both to Litex players – but also awarded Litex a penalty kick. He refereed two more UEFA Cup matches in the 2008–09 season, including the Round of 32 second leg between Hamburg and NEC. In June 2009, Chapron was named as one of six UEFA referees to take charge of the 2009 UEFA Under-21 Championship in Sweden.

On 2 November 2010, Chapron took charge of his first UEFA Champions League match between Rubin Kazan and Panathinaikos; he showed three yellow cards during the game, all to Panathinaikos players.