ESome were already acting as the future President of the German Football Association (DFB), Bibiana Steinhaus-Webb, but the former Bundesliga referee found out about it “only from the newspaper” – as she said in an interview with the sports information service. The 42-year-old has now turned her back on the DFB, in England she sees more willingness to change.
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“Football can do so much more. Above all, it does not make sufficient use of its social role because it no longer depicts society, ”says Steinhaus-Webb, referring to the German association. She is “a child of the DFB” and “worked with wonderful people at the association”, she emphasizes: “But of course there were a few hurdles during all that time that weren’t necessary, and I lacked a vision of what we strive together in the future. “
The English association has “a very specific idea” and, as director of the referee association, gives her “the opportunity to take responsibility for something that is extremely important to me, namely the structural development of refereeing in women’s football”.
“I found that unacceptable”
At the DFB, on the other hand, she feels resistance “in some areas”. “But fear of change seldom results in anything good,” says Steinhaus-Webb, who last represented the association as a video assistant at the Olympic finals in Tokyo: “But to be future-proof, you need a clear analysis of the current one Problems and openness to new paths. “
Because of her involvement in the women’s initiative “Football can do more”, there was a conflict with co-interim president Rainer Koch. There have been “interventions”, “I found that unacceptable.”
The fact that Koch urged her to make statements in a telephone conversation with a journalist was “one of several situations” since the founding of our initiative that disturbed me, but in this one I was particularly taken by surprise. The loyalty to the employer DFB on the one hand and “the obligation to identify inappropriate behavior as such tore me apart”.
Because of her move to England, she will have to withdraw from the initiative “for reasons of time”. Nevertheless, she also sees progress in German football, for example with the signing of Donata Hopfen as the successor to Christian Seifert at the head of the German Football League: “Something is happening.”
Even before her Olympic stint in Japan, Steinhaus-Webb moved to the camp of video assistants a good year ago after finishing her active career as a referee. The seven-time referee of the year had her last game in autumn 2020 at the Supercup between Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund.
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The Lower Saxon was the first woman to be promoted to the ranks of the Bundesliga referees in 2017 and later also played internationally in men’s games. By 2020, Steinhaus-Webb had whistled a total of 23 matches in the German House of Lords and also the 2012 Olympic final for women in London, as well as several matches at three World Cup and three European Championship tournaments for women between 2009 and 2019.
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