Steinhaus becomes Bundesliga's first female referee

Bibiana Steinhaus enjoyed a debut free of major incidents as she became the first woman to referee a Bundesliga match in the 1-1 draw between Hertha Berlin and Werder Bremen on Sunday. A second-half strike from Thomas Delaney gave Bremen their first goal and point of the season in a match which produced one yellow card and no sendings-off or controversial penalty incidents.Steinhaus, a 38-year-old police officer, has been a German FA referee since 1999 and taken charge of 80 second division matches since 2007. "To be honest, I am relieved that it is all over and I will be delighted when normality returns from Monday," she said. "I was really able to enjoy it here with my team."German FA president Reinhard Grindel described it as "certainly a historic moment." "To make all the right decisions so confidently, it was certainly a first-class performance," he added. Hertha defender Sebastian Langkamp said: "She did well, although that is no surprise."Werder coach Alexander Nouri added: "I've said before that it doesn't matter whether a man or a woman is refereeing. It's the performance that counts and that was okay." In 2015, Kerem Demirbay, playing for Fortuna Duesseldorf at the time, was banned for five weeks for making a sexist remark after he was sent off in a second division game by Steinhaus, who mentioned the remark in her match report.

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