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Eleni Rittmann played for SCR Altach in the 2023/24 season. Today she is in France with Évian Grand Genève FC.
Screenshot Instagram
Following the conviction of a former top Swiss referee for secretly filming female footballers, Swiss player Eleni Rittmann has spoken out. The 25-year-old sharply criticizes the sentence.
During his time as an official at SCR Altach, a former top Swiss referee secretly filmed and photographed female footballers in the dressing room and gym - some of them minors. On Monday, the Feldkirch Regional Court sentenced him to seven months' conditional imprisonment, 300 daily fines of four euros each and 625 euros in damages for each player involved (blue News reported).
Swiss footballer Eleni Rittmann has now spoken out publicly about the case. In an Instagram reel, the 25-year-old sharply criticizes the sentence. The 25-year-old also commented to blue News.
Rittmann played for SCR Altach in the 2023/24 season - i.e. during the period of the offense. "I thought long and hard about whether I should speak out," she says. The players were advised early on by the authorities not to speak publicly about the case. "But the verdict is unjust in my eyes. That's why I want to use my reach."
It should not be the case that those affected have to remain silent for fear of legal consequences or hate comments - and that is exactly what she wants to counteract with her statement. "If we simply accept this as women in women's sport, nothing will ever change. Things like this happen again and again in women's football, partly because they are only ever dealt with internally and swept under the carpet."
She found out about the incidents when she was already playing for her current club Évian Grand Genève FC in France. SCR Altach had sent a circular email to former players. "But it didn't say exactly what had happened or who it was. You could only read that something bad must have happened." She only received more detailed information from a colleague who still plays for SCR Altach.
For Rittmann and her teammates, the case affects a particularly sensitive place: the dressing room. "For me, the dressing room is a meeting place with my teammates," says Rittmann. During the season, the team is like a small family. "You see each other every day, experience good and bad moments together. Before training, you talk to each other, talk about private things. You feel comfortable."
Rittmann's close friend and Brooklyn FC player Ana Maria Marković also says that these are exactly the places where you should feel safe - and at the same time particularly vulnerable. "These are not strange places. This is our everyday life, our workplace, our second home," says Marković in a video on Instagram in which she comments on the case.
The fact that this protected space was abused has left its mark, says Rittmann. The day after she found out about the crimes, she checked the checkroom at her new club for possible cameras. "I'm generally much more attentive. No matter where I am, I look around for cameras." This feeling not only accompanies her, but also her fellow players who have learned about her actions at SCR Altach.
Rittmann did not take part in the trial in Feldkirch. As a private plaintiff, she was unable to participate as she is not one of the players identified by the public prosecutor's office on the seized recordings.
However, Rittmann does not rule out the possibility that there are no recordings of her. "The dressing rooms and the gym are not very big. I assume that every player from that time can probably be seen on recordings," she says. That's an assumption - "but for me, every single player from back then is a victim".
Rittmann criticizes the fact that she was not better informed about the incidents by the authorities. She and many of her former teammates still have many unanswered questions. She also only found out about the verdict from the media.
She got on well with the convicted official at the beginning of her time in Altach. He was also the one who brought her to the club. "He was very close to the team, often attending training sessions and matches," she says. Later, however, tensions arose.
She remembers one incident in particular: after talking to a teammate in the shower, she received a message telling her to "close the door next time you're blaspheming". "I was sure at the time that the door was closed," says Rittmann today.
"But even if it had been open, I don't think anyone other than the players should be so close to the dressing room door that they can hear what we're discussing in the shower." She then sought a conversation with her coach and the official. "It was my last conversation with him," says Rittmann. She terminated her original two-year contract after eight months. "But even then, I couldn't have imagined in my worst dreams that he would do something like that."
Looking back, she felt that the club did not protect her enough - but she does not directly blame Altach. "The club was overwhelmed by the situation. It is also a victim." Nevertheless, the case should be a wake-up call. Rittmann is calling for stricter checks on employment - especially in the sensitive area of women's sport. "You have to take a closer look at who you hire." Men in particular need to be asked exactly why they want to work in women's sport and not in men's sport.
For her, the scandal is also an expression of structural problems: In women's football, there are still too few resources, too little professionalism and too few women in positions of responsibility.
Rittmann considers the sentence against the convicted perpetrator to be far too lenient. "You are punished more severely if you fill in something incorrectly on your tax return," she says. She considers the compensation of 625 euros per player to be "ridiculous". "I don't feel taken seriously by this verdict."
The perpetrator pleaded guilty in court. He also accepted the verdict and apologized to the victims: "I would like to express my sympathy to all those affected," he said. However, the verdict is not yet final. The public prosecutor's office is currently examining whether it wishes to appeal the verdict. "It now has the opportunity to send out a signal that something like this will not be tolerated in our society," says Rittman.
