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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Sport
Suzanne Wrack

Pioneering referee aims to keep officials up with women’s game’s rise

England PGMOL
Bibiana Steinhaus-Webb, pictured refereeing the 2020 German Super Cup, says: ‘We have invested so much in the players, in the coaches, in the venues, and referees have not really been a topic.’
Bibiana Steinhaus-Webb, pictured refereeing the 2020 German Super Cup, says: ‘We have invested so much in the players, in the coaches, in the venues, and referees have not really been a topic.’ Photograph: Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images

We are one year on from the Football Assocation transferring responsibility for Women’s Super League and Women’s Championship match officials to the Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL). There is still no timeframe for the full professionalisation of referees operating in the top two tiers of the women’s game, despite a clamouring for improvement, but the passionate and pioneering referee Bibiana Steinhaus-Webb is leading the push.

Having begun refereeing in the Frauen Bundesliga in 1999, the 43-year-old German became the first woman to referee in the men’s Bundesliga in the 2017-18 season. Now she oversees officiating in England.

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