Eckardt is from Töppeln close to Gera in Germany. At the age of 13 Eckardt became interested in snooker while watching Eurosport. With nowhere to play snooker close to his childhood home, he only took up snooker later in life and continues to mostly play pool. In 2008, he completed his first course in snooker refereeing, earning the national association of Thuringia C-licence in Hohenstein-Ernstthal, and later obtained the national B-licence. He first refereed professional players in 2010, during an exhibition tournament in Bruges featuring Stephen Hendry and Steve Davis, amongst others. The same year he applied to referee the new Players Tour Championship and he gained experience in European tournaments and in qualification matches for the Main Tour. He refereed his first Players Tour Championship Final at the 2012 Paul Hunter Classic, and his first full ranking tournament was the 2012 German Masters.