Christian Dintar (born 22 March 1974 in

Graz Graz (; sl, Gradec) is the capital city of the Austrian state of Styria and second-largest city in Austria after Vienna. As of 1 January 2021, it had a population of 331,562 (294,236 of whom had principal-residence status). In 2018, the popul ...

) is an

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

referee A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other titl ...

. He refereed matches in the

Austrian Football Bundesliga The Austrian Football Bundesliga (german: Österreichische Fußball-Bundesliga, italic=no , "Austrian Football Federal League"), also known as Admiral Bundesliga for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Austrian football league system. Th ...

from 2010 until 2015.

Career as a football referee

After Dintar had played football in various lower league clubs, he suffered a serious motorcycle accident. His colleague, Paul Pethö, a referee in Burgenland, persuaded Dintar after his recovery, to take the exam for football referees. This he took in 1997. Because of good performance, Dintar rose quickly as referee in the Austrian Regional League. Already in the 2002/03 season, Dintar was assistant Bundesliga referee alongside Wolfgang Falb and Thomas Paukowits. On 28 March 2006, Dintar officiated a qualifying match, in the

Austrian Football First League The Austrian Football Second League (german: 2. Liga) is the second-highest professional division in Austrian football. It was formerly called the First League (''Erste Liga''), from 2002 to 2018. The division currently contains 16 teams, and t ...

, between

FC Kufstein Fußballclub Kufstein is an association football club based in the town of Kufstein, Tyrol, Austria, that competes in Regionalliga Tirol, one of the third tiers of the Austrian football league system. Founded in 1987, it is affiliated to the Tiro ...

and

DSV Leoben DSV Leoben is an Austrian association football club based in Leoben. It was founded in 1928. They play at the Donawitz Stadium. History WSV Donawitz The club was founded on 1 February 1928 opgericht as ''Werkssportverein Donawitz'', playing i ...

(0:2). On 1 July 2006, he was awarded the Bundesliga status as referee. Dintar was included in the squad for the First League and on 11 August 2006 refereed his first official match (

FC Gratkorn FC Gratkorn was an Austrian association football club from Gratkorn. They played in the Austrian Football First League The Austrian Football Second League (german: 2. Liga) is the second-highest professional division in Austrian football. I ...

against

FC Kärnten FC Kärnten was an Austrian association football club based in Klagenfurt, Carinthia. It was founded in 1920 under the name of KSK Klagenfurt. History Austria Klagenfurt Austria Klagenfurt played successfully in the ''Kärntner Liga'' and in ...

) as Bundesliga referee in the second highest Austrian league. Starting in the 2010/11 season, Dintar officiated matches in the highest Austrian league, the Bundesliga. On 3 March 2010, Dintar refereed the U20 international frendliy match between

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

and

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

(1:1), his first international match. In summer 2015, Dintar ended his career as a Bundesliga referee at the age of 41. But he continues to officiate matches in the Regional League East and Burgenland.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dintar, Christian Football in Austria Austrian football referees 1974 births Living people Sportspeople from Graz