Katriina Elovirta (15 February 1961 – 19 June 2018) was a Finnish female

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

and was a well known international match referee who served from 1991 to 2003. She served as a referee affiliating with FIFA between 1995 and 2003 She also worked as a development manager for the

Finnish Football Association The Football Association of Finland ( fi, Suomen Palloliitto, abbr. SPL; sv, Finlands Bollförbund) is the governing body of football in Finland. It was founded in Helsinki on 19 May 1907. The SPL organises the men's and women's national footba ...

until her death. Elovirta died at age 57 after a long illness.

Career

As a player

Elovirta appeared in 9 international matches as a midfielder for

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

and was a member of the Helsinki United team which won its first domestic

Finnish Women's Cup The Finnish Women's Cup ( fi, Naisten Suomen Cup, sv, Finlands cup för damer) is the national women's football cup competition in Finland and was first played in 1981. List of finals The list of finals: Helsingin Sanomat archives 1981 See ...

title in 1990 beating

FC Kontu FC Kontu is a football club from Helsinki, Finland. It serves Kontula in East Helsinki and the immediately surrounding area. The club was formed in 1967 under the name Kontulan Urheilijat (abbreviated KontU), the name being changed in 1994. The ...

3–2 in the final.

As a referee

Elovirta went on to become a match referee in 1991 after retiring from playing in international football. She served as a referee in many women's football championships including the

1999 FIFA Women's World Cup The 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup was the third edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the world championship for women's national soccer teams. It was hosted as well as won by the United States and took place from June 19 to July 10, 1999, at ...

, 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup, UEFA Women's Euro 197,

UEFA Women's Euro 2001 The 2001 UEFA Women's Championship was the eighth UEFA Women's Championship, a competition for the women's national football teams and member associations of UEFA. It took place in Germany between 23 June and 7 July 2001. It was won by Germany w ...

and

2001-02 UEFA Women's Cup Increment or incremental may refer to: *Incrementalism, a theory (also used in politics as a synonym for gradualism) *Increment and decrement operators, the operators ++ and -- in computer programming *Incremental computing *Incremental backup, wh ...

. She also notably served as a match official at the

1999 FIFA Women's World Cup Final The final of the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup was an association football match that took place on July 10, 1999, to determine the winner of the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup. The host United States and China played to a scoreless draw following dou ...

and in the 2002 UEFA Women's Cup Final. In 2005, she was appointed as one of the 5 women instructors as a part of the FIFA technical group.

References

External links

* 1961 births 2018 deaths Finnish women's footballers Finland women's international footballers Women's association football midfielders Finnish football referees Women association football referees FIFA Women's World Cup referees People from Iisalmi Sportspeople from North Savo 20th-century Finnish women {{Finland-footy-midfielder-stub