The German Football Federation (DFB) has opened an investigation into reports that referee Fabienne Michel was subjected to sexist abuse by fans during a third-division fixture last weekend, according to German public broadcaster Sportschau.
Michel, 30, is currently the only female referee in Germany’s top three professional football leagues and took charge of the 3. Liga game between SC Verl and Rot-Weiss Essen last Friday.
In the build-up to Verl’s opening goal in the first half, she inadvertently stood in the way of Essen midfielder Klaus Gjasula as he tried to get in position to block the shot.
“The referee ran straight into my path and that resulted in the first goal,” complained Gjasula. “It’s a joke. I asked her why she was stood there and she gave me a yellow card.”
What are fans accused of chanting at the referee?
After making a similar positional error in the second half, Michel was then reportedly subjected to sexist insults from the traveling Essen supporters who could be heard chanting the word “Hure” (whore) at her.
Later in the game, which Essen lost 0-3, local broadcaster WDR reportedly recorded chants of “the blonde is getting f*****, olé, olé,” as well as songs insinuating oral sex.
Whether Michel was aware of the abuse during the game is unclear. She and her team of officials did not mention the incidents in their official match report, but the DFB has now launched an investigation after being made aware of the incidents by Sportschau.
DFB: ‘Protection of female referees has top priority’
“The support and protection of [female] referees is very important to us and has top priority,” said Alex Feuerherdt, head of communications at the DFB’s refereeing department.
Rot-Weiss Essen are yet to comment on the reports, but head coach Uwe Koschinat said after the defeat to Verl that “the referee ran into a situation where she shouldn’t have been.”
Essen, who are based in Germany’s formerly industrial Ruhr Valley in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia, are one of German football’s most historic clubs but had their most successful era in the 1950s, when they won the German Cup in 1953 and the league championship in 1955.
They dropped as low as the fifth tier in 2010 but have been back in the third division since 2022, where they are currently only one point above the relegation zone.
The most prominent female referee in German football was Bibiana Steinhaus-Webb, who took charge of 179 professional men’s matches between 2007 and 2020, including 23 in the top-flight Bundesliga.
Edited by: Sean Sinico
