Friday November 12th 2021
Martincic shines at DFB debut
A perfect evening for the referee pioneer
The performance is impeccable, all warnings in the match between the national soccer team and Liechtenstein are justified. So normally there would be no reason to talk about the referee, but then yes, because Ivana Martincic is actually the first referee to lead a DFB game.
Whatever joker Thomas Müller may have said to her after the final whistle, Ivana Martincic reacted happily and gave the smirking Munich man a smile. Even in the game, the Croatian, who was the first referee to ever lead a game of the German men’s national team, did not allow herself to be disturbed. Martincic appeared friendly, but determined and, above all, almost flawlessly – although she had been a bit nervous before the premiere.
The 36-year-old had said in advance that it was “a great honor” for her to be able to whistle the World Cup qualifier of the DFB team in Wolfsburg against Liechtenstein (9-0). Croatia’s referee boss Bruno Maric had even spoken of a “historic day” and had no doubts at all about a successful performance: “She can do it!”
Martincic cannot be duped
And Martincic proved that later on the lawn – even if the game started more hectically than she probably would have liked. After a brutal kick by Liechtenstein’s Jens Hofer on the neck of Leon Goretzka, the referee had no choice but to pull out the red card after ten minutes and point to the penalty spot.
Martincic was also completely right on the yellow card for Antonio Rüdiger after an elbow use in the header duel, even if the German central defender was therefore at the end of the year on Sunday (6 p.m. / RTL and in the ntv.de live ticker) locked in Armenia will be absent. Rüdiger was lucky that the Croatian left it with a final warning shortly before half-time after the Chelsea professional had pushed his opponent’s head away in the scramble. And when left-back Christian Günter tried to score a penalty in the second half, Martincic didn’t fall for it.
The average of 6.5 million TV viewers and 25,984 visitors in the sold-out VfL Arena clearly noticed that there was no beginner at work. The daughter of a former second division referee has been picking up the pipe since 2008, and in her home country she is a pioneer similar to that of Bibiana Steinhaus-Webb in Germany. On September 10, she was the first woman to lead a game in the first Croatian men’s league HNL. A month later she whistled the European Championship qualifier of the U21 juniors of Latvia against San Marino.
The biggest game of their career so far, however, was the appearance in Wolfsburg – but maybe something bigger is coming. “The clubs and players need time to accept me,” said Martincic. Your Thursday night performance definitely helped.