Referee Steinhaus promoted as 1st women in Bundesliga

FRANKFURT – Referee Bibiana Steinhaus has been promoted to the Bundesliga for next season and will be first women working games in Germany’s top division.

In an interview published on the German soccer federation’s website, Steinhaus says she feels “disbelief, delight, joy, relief, curiosity.”

The 38-year-old German is already proven at the top of the women’s game. She refereed the 2011 Women’s World Cup final, the 2012 London Olympic final, and will work the Women’s Champions League final on June 1 in Cardiff, Wales.

She has also worked in the second division of the Bundesliga for a decade.

Steinhaus says she aims “to make female referees a normal part of professional football and show simply that they belong in the game.”