[ad_1]
Wednesday 30 September 2020
This Wednesday night, Bibiana Steinhaus will be the first woman to lead the Super Cup match between Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund, after which the pioneer will end her historic career as a referee, just after the final whistle. Soon he will comment on the reasons for saying goodbye.
Of course, in the end there is another historical mark: when Bibiana Steinhaus whistles at night between triple winner Bayern Munich and runner-up Borussia Dortmund, the 41-year-old will be the first woman to lead the match for the German Super Cup. If you blow the whistle, you will not only end the great game, but also your great career as a referee.
The pioneer Steinhaus officially ends her career as a national and international referee. The match for the Super Cup is the 41-year-old’s latest outing. The German Football Association (DFB) confirmed it a few hours before kick-off in Munich.
“Like many people around the time of the Corona situation, I reflected on some things and re-evaluated them,” Steinhaus said. After a conversation with the chief referee Lutz Michael Fröhlich, he decided “after careful weighing of many factors” to end his career. “In the future, German football will not only have to do without an outstanding referee, it will also lose an extraordinary personality and a pioneer in the men’s field,” said DFB President Fritz Keller.
“I wish the focus was solely on the game”
The Super Cup, the meeting between the two most successful German clubs in recent decades, is a propitious setting for the end of an extraordinary career. As the first and so far only woman, Steinhaus made it to the men’s Bundesliga. Since 2017, she has led 23 matches in the first division, and if she were to leave, she would be the only person in history who has not issued a single expulsion during her entire Bundesliga career.
Steinhaus made his debut on September 10, 2017 in the match between Hertha BSC and Werder Bremen (1: 1), accompanied by great media interest. The full-time police officer had previously directed games in the 2nd Bundesliga for ten years. In the women’s area, Steinhaus called three world and three European championships.
For Steinhaus, the Munich match is the first match since matchday 32 of the preseason, in the first two matchdays of the professional leagues of the current season he was not yet in action as a referee. “For tonight, I hope the focus is solely on the game. I will be more detailed about the reasons for my retirement in due course,” he said.
Steinhaus has been in a relationship with former world-class English referee Howard Webb, who currently lives in New York, for four years. He wants to spend more time with Webb, speculates the “Bild”. The newspaper also writes that the DFB would like to continue to use its historic referee, even if she will no longer be on the field, for example as a video referee in the Cologne basement.
