Seitz to EURO 05

[MassachusettsRef]

Kari Seitz is named as one of only 6 referees for EURO 2005:

http://www.uefa.com/uefa/news/Kind=268435456/newsId=305086.html

I think an argument can be made that this speaks to not only the strength of Seitz, but the overall weakness of female referees in Europe and elsewhere. Suffice it to say, no matter how good an American male referee is in the future, one will never be invited to the men's version of the European Championships.

[Claymore]

Cool! I'll be seeing her this weekend.

EDIT: Oops, I'll be seeing Karalee Sutton this weekend.

[Englishref]

Europe has very good referees, just not many! Ionescu from Romania did the 2003 WC final, and Petignat has experience from WC1999 (where she reffed the final) and WC2003, as well as the Olympics last year.

There's also Andi Regan from Northern Ireland, who is an excellent young AR by all accounts (and the source of the Sharp-Poll feud btw), as is Nelly Viennot from France (who has done several mens UCL and UC games), although she isn't involved as France are in the tournament. There are also several other very capable referees missing due to their nations involvement in the tournament - Jenny Palmqvist (SWE), Christine Frai (GER), Cristina Cini(ITA).

So the talent is there, unfortunately as it's only a small tournament, some of UEFA's best referees are missing out because of the fact that their country is involved in the tournament.

[MidwestRef]

So the talent is there, unfortunately as it's only a small tournament, some of UEFA's best referees are missing out because of the fact that their country is involved in the tournament.

Why won't UEFA allow the female referees to work if their nations are involved? I totally understand not working your home nation's games, but to completely shut them out of the tournament seems odd. What if this happened in the men's tournament? Obviously, a lot of excellent referees would not be working games.

[Englishref]

Why won't UEFA allow the female referees to work if their nations are involved? I totally understand not working your home nation's games, but to completely shut them out of the tournament seems odd. What if this happened in the men's tournament? Obviously, a lot of excellent referees would not be working games.

I think the reason is because it is only a small tournament, 2 groups of 4. So if say Frai was invited, she wouldn't be able to do any games in Germany's group, and would be stuck with doing the same teams until the knockout rounds, and if Germany were to qualify, she obviously wouldnt be able to stay on. So I think it's fairly wise not to have them, and have referees who could do any game at any stage of the tournament.

Of course the difference with the mens tournament, is it is 4 groups of 4, and in the WC, 8 groups of 4, so there are a lot more games that each referee can do.

[Englishref]

Kari Seitz has been appointed to the 'opener', although the proper opener takes place the CoM stadium later that day.

5 June
Sweden vs Denmark
Referee: Kari Seitz (USA)
ARs: Andi Regan (NIR) and Hana Spackova (CZE)
FO: Dagmar Damkova (CZE)

England vs Finland
Referee: Gyöngyi Gaal (HUN)
ARs: Blazenka Logarusic (CRO) and Irina Mirt (ROM)
FO: Floarea Cristina Ionescu (ROM)

6 June
Germany vs Norway
Referee: TBA
ARs: Elke Lüthi (SUI) and Yolanda Parga Rodriguez (SPA)
FO: Wendy Toms (ENG)

France vs Italy
Referee: TBA
ARs: Miroslava Migalova (SVK) and Katarzyna Nadolska (POL)
FO: Amy Rayner (ENG)