World Cup qualification against Liechtenstein
This is the referee who will be the first woman to lead a DFB men’s game
“A normal process”: Referee Ivana Martincic from Croatia
© Fabio Ferrari / DPA
For the first time in the history of the DFB, a female referee will lead a game for the men’s national team. The woman’s name is Ivana Martincic, comes from Croatia and has had a steep career. Still, it is rare for women to lead men’s games.
You almost get the feeling that Uefa and DFB saw themselves compelled to do everything to ensure that the national team’s kick against Liechtenstein (from 8.45 p.m. in star-Liveticker) is somehow a bit more exciting than it sounds. The World Cup qualification is over, the opponent is fourth or even fifth class and the location Wolfsburg is not exactly a boiling cauldron – none of this promises an exciting football evening.
That is why the DFB may have come up with the idea of pimping up the game to mark the official farewell for ex-national coach Joachim Löw (read the comment from my colleague Eugen Epp here). Another topic that has only indirectly to do with the game is the excitement about the corona-infected national player Niklas Süle and his four teammates, who had to go into quarantine, presumably because they are not vaccinated. It is known from Joshua Kimmich that the DFB remains silent about the vaccination status of Serge Gnabry, Jamal Musiala and Karim Adeyemi, who have also left. Since then, speculation has sprouted.
Ivana Martincic is an experienced referee
Fifa’s contribution to giving the game against Liechtenstein a special note consists in the appointment of a referee. For the first time a woman whistles a game of the DFB men, or in other words: the first time in 113 years of international history. The Croatian Ivana Martincic, 36 years old, is an experienced referee. She has been leading the women’s Fifa games since 2014, and is now making her first appearance at an international men’s match. Another woman belongs to the Martincic referee team in the form of assistant Sanja Rodjak-Karšic. Goran Pataki is also on the sidelines. The fourth official, Igor Pajac, and video referee Duje Strukan are also from Croatia.
She left no doubt that she is looking forward to the mission. “It’s a great honor for me, I’m really looking forward to the game,” said Martincic. “Anyone would like it.” She is aware that it will take time before female referees are normal in men’s football: “The Clubs and players need time to accept me ”.
Martincic used to play soccer himself. Later, her father, who was himself a referee, advised her to take up the pipe. A steep ascent followed against many (male) resistance. She was the first to lead a game in the Croatian football league HNL and a U21 international match between the men of Latvia and San Marino. The German women’s national team also knows them from two missions. In 2019 she made the leap into the Fifa elite group. Her next goal is the 2022 Women’s European Championship in England and the Croatian classic Dinamo Zagreb against Hajduk Split.
Women referees in men’s football are a rarity
Despite such pioneers, appearances like Martincic’s remain a rarity – even in 2021, because equality is advancing particularly slowly in the men’s bastion of football. After all, there were more women playing men’s games this year. This year, the French Stéphanie Frappart and the Ukrainian Kateryna Monsul led games in the World Cup qualifiers. In addition to Croatia, France, the Czech Republic, Wales and the Ukraine have female referees in the first men’s leagues. No woman has whistled in the Bundesliga since Bibiana Steinhaus left.
National coach Hansi Flick found the right words for Martincic: “I’m looking forward to it. It’s a normal process for it to happen and the time has come to let a woman lead the game for the men,” he said.
Sources: DPA, “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung“