Désirée Grundbacher and her team of female referees face a challenge on their Super League debut in Yverdon. Experts Klossner and Bregy get it wrong in a controversial scene. To their incomprehension, the VAR does not intervene either.
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- The quartet of referee Désirée Grundbacher, assistants Susanne Küng and Linda Schmid and Déborah Anex celebrate a premiere on Sunday. For the first time, four women will be officiating a Super League match.
- Grundbacher and her team will face several challenges in the match between Yverdon and Lugano. The blue Sport experts Georges Bregy and Stephan Klossner do not agree with all of the quartet's decisions.
- One scene in Yverdon's penalty area, in particular, provoked discussion.
For the first time ever, four women will referee a Super League match on Sunday. The quartet of referee Désirée Grundbacher, assistants Susanne Küng and Linda Schmid and Déborah Anex will be in charge of the clash between Yverdon and FC Lugano.
"We were very pleased. It's an event to be proud of," said referee Désirée Grundbacher in an interview with blue Sport after the team's debut, explaining: "There were already a lot of media inquiries in the morning. We didn't have the match preparation that we usually have. It was all a bit tumultuous."
"I believe my VAR"
Grundbacher and her colleagues were called upon several times during the match. In the 32nd minute, Lugano's Renato Steffen burst into the opposing penalty area down the right side of the attack, but was rudely stopped. For blue Sport expert Georges Bregy, it's clear: "Steffen clearly plays the ball and is then knocked down. For me, it's a penalty because the defender doesn't go for the ball at all. But apparently the VAR has a different opinion."
Because referee Désirée Grundbacher, who allows play to continue in the scene, is not asked by video assistant Lukas Fähndrich to go in front of the screen afterwards. "The scene was checked and it was said that the defender played the ball. Accordingly, I believe my VAR," Grundbacher clarifies.
This is not only met with incomprehension from Bregy, but also from refereeing expert Stephan Klossner: "I agree with Georges. Marques doesn't hit the ball, only Steffen - that's a foul for me. I don't understand why Lukas Fähndrich didn't intervene here."
Two similar scenes, only one intervention
But things got even worse for Steffen and Lugano. Shortly before the break, referee Grundbacher decided to award a free kick after chaos in the Ticino penalty area and showed Yverdon's Moussa Baradji a yellow card. However, Fähndrich then asks her to stand in front of the screen - and after consulting her, she awards the penalty to the home team.
"The VAR intervened correctly here. For me, there are two similar scenes. The striker is on the ball a little earlier, then there's contact," says refereeing expert Klossner, adding: "I'm sure that if it had happened the other way around in the game, they would have intervened twice. Too bad it wasn't the case the first time."
In addition to the referee's bad luck, Lugano also suffered from incompetence. After all, anyone who gets down to business in their own penalty area, as Lugano's Hicham Mahou did in the penalty scene, must also take themselves to task. "A clear penalty. Mahou should never go for the ball," said Dennis Hediger. "A very simple penalty that he's guilty of here." Bregy agrees: "You can't behave any more stupidly when the ball is already going towards the corner flag and you're still intervening."
