Admin I Tuesday, Jan. 02, 2023
BERLIN – National team coach Horst Hrubesch and other German football officials have criticised that men are not being used as match officials in women’s Bundesliga matches.
“Quality must be the deciding factor. It doesn’t matter whether it is a man or a woman. It’s the same as with coaches and managers,” women’s team interim coach Hrubesch said.
Hrubesch was speaking in a joint interview in Tuesday’s edition of Kicker sports magazine with Bayern Munich women’s football head Bianca Rech and Wolfsburg sporting director Ralf Kellermann.
Only women are used as match officials in the Bundesliga but the trio said the national federation DFB should make the issue of including men a priority in order to help raise the refereeing level in the league while also trying to have more women as professional referees.
“If we can’t manage to get enough quality and quantity of female referees on the pitch at the moment – why aren’t we able to open the doors to male referees in the women’s Bundesliga?” Rech said.
“As we know, it also works the other way round. On the one hand, we talk about diversity and equality and the possibility of the best female referees officiating in the top male leagues. We would like the DFB to prioritise this issue more. Because we are of the opinion that we urgently need quality.”
Kellermann said: “We are the only top nation in Europe that can afford not to fill its referee teams with men. This is not about having a man refereeing the top match in the women’s Bundesliga.
“Women’s football has developed so rapidly in recent years. Athletically, in terms of speed. If I’m not a professional referee, it’s a bit normal that I don’t have the opportunity to follow this development to the same extent.
