At least it doesn’t necessarily give you peace of mind when the whole country is discussing whether someone else should be in goal. That basically means people are unhappy with you and that can’t make you feel good about a World Cup. In my opinion, Oliver Baumann doesn’t deserve this because he has shown excellent performances for the national team and is a very consistent goalkeeper in the league. On the other hand, I can understand the mistrust to a certain extent.
Because Germany is a goalkeeping nation. Germany’s number one has actually always played for a top club in the past and was also represented internationally at club level. That is simply not the case with Oliver Baumann. Last year he played against relegation with Hoffenheim. The truth is that he didn’t play ten Champions League games in his career. This is probably one of the main reasons why the goalkeeper discussion even exists.
There will be significantly more referees and assistants at the 2026 World Cup than in Qatar, but the number of women has not changed. However, FIFA referee director Pierluigi Collina spoke of a continuing trend. Is the world association just pursuing symbolic politics?
This can be interpreted from the perspective of pure numbers. But there is also another perspective. At Fifa, I think Bibiana Steinhaus-Webb is responsible for which referees are nominated for the World Cup. She is an absolute expert and has a good view of the whole thing. In the end, a woman has to be trusted to whistle on this big stage, especially if she is constantly confronted with sexism. A referee at a World Cup has to be able to deal with this willy-nilly.
Would you support the introduction of a quota for women referees at a World Cup or in the Bundesliga?