Ivana Martinčić to be first Croatian female to ref men’s international football match
- by croatiaweek
- in Sport
ZAGREB, 9 November 2021 – Ivana Martinčić will become the first Croatian female to officiate a men’s senior international football match.
Ivana will make her debut in an official men’s senior International when she referees the World Cup qualifier between Germany and Liechtenstein on 11 November 2021 in Wolfsburg.
She will be assisted by fellow Croats Goran Pataki and Sanja Rođak-Karšić, whilst the fourth referee will be Igor Pajač. Croats will also sit in the VAR room, the VAR ref is Duje Strukan, and his assistant will be Bojan Zobenica.
In September, Ivana became the first woman to be the main referee of a Croatian football first division league match when she officiated the 9th round clash between Gorica and Hrvatski Dragovoljac.
Ivana Martinčić (CRO) will make her debut in an official Men’s Senior National Teams game, by officiating WC Qualifier Germany – Liechtenstein, on 11 November 2021 in Wolfsburg.
— Law 5 – The Ref (@Law5_TheRef) November 9, 2021
All appointments for the first set of MD9 games can be found here: https://t.co/Sqm6USvHlx pic.twitter.com/sAPabRSdt9
Ivana first got into refereeing at the age of 22 and obtained her FIFA badge when she was 28. Ivana has been an international referee since 2014. In 2018, she refereed the finals of the European Under-19 Football Championship, and in 2015 the final of the European Under-17 Championship. In June last year, she was the fourth referee in the first division match between Hajduk and Varaždin.
Since 2019, Martinčić has been an international elite group referee and is a candidate to ref at the 2023 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
