Alexandra "Saša" Ihringová (born 29 January 1975) is a Slovak-born

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 ...

, based in

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to th ...

, who officiates in the role of

assistant 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 tit ...

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

. In addition she has refereed several major women's football matches at domestic and international level. These include the

FA Women's Cup The Women's FA Challenge Cup Competition is the top annual cup tournament for women's clubs in English football. Founded in 1970, it has been named the WFA Cup, FA Women's Cup and now Women's FA Cup (Vitality Women's FA Cup for sponsorship reas ...

final, the

UEFA Women's Champions League The UEFA Women's Champions League, previously called the UEFA Women's Cup (2001–2009), is a European women's association football competition. It involves the top club teams from countries affiliated with the European governing body UEFA. The ...

final, the

UEFA Women's Championship The UEFA European Women's Championship, also called the UEFA Women's Euro, held every four years, is the main competition in women's association football between national teams of the UEFA confederation. The competition is the women's equivalent ...

final and the

FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup The FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup is an international association football tournament, organized by FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association), for national teams of women under the age of 20. The tournament is held in even-numbere ...

final. Ihringová is tall and, as well as her native Slovak, can speak English, German, Russian and Spanish.

Career

Early career

Ihringová grew up in a sporting family in

Bratislava Bratislava (, also ; ; german: Preßburg/Pressburg ; hu, Pozsony) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Slovakia. Officially, the population of the city is about 475,000; however, it is estimated to be more than 660,000 — approxim ...

. As a player, Ihringová was a national champion three times from 1991 to 1994 with her club Filozof Bratislava. She attended a course for women officials in 1995. Her move into refereeing was inspired by Ihringová's uncle, Karol Ihring, a

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

official named the best referee in

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

three times. Ihringová quickly progressed through the ranks and in 2002 became the first, and at the time, only, woman to referee in the second tier of men's football in Slovakia.

England

In 2006 Ihringová emigrated to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, and was "adopted" by

the Football Association The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the Sports governing body, governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Bailiwick of Guernsey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the ...

. She oversaw two consecutive

finals in 2008 and 2009. Ihringová considered that the move to England, and particularly her involvement at Football League level, assisted in her overall development as a referee. Ihringová took charge of the second–leg of the 2008 UEFA Women's Cup Final between

1. FFC Frankfurt Eintracht Frankfurt is a German women's association football club based in Frankfurt. Its first team currently plays in the German top flight, Frauen-Bundesliga. From 1998 to 2020, the club was known as 1. FFC Frankfurt. Eintracht have won sev ...

and

Umeå IK Umeå IK () is a professional association football club based in the city of Umeå, in northern Sweden, and currently playing Damallsvenskan, the first tier of women's football in Sweden. They were one of the most successful football clubs in ...

, before 27,000 spectators at

Commerzbank-Arena The Waldstadion (, ''Forest Stadium''), currently known as the Deutsche Bank Park for sponsorship purposes, and formerly known as the Commerzbank-Arena, is a retractable roof sports stadium in Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany. The home stadium of the ...

. In April 2011 she refereed the first game of the new

FA WSL The Women's Super League (WSL), currently known as the Barclays Women's Super League (BWSL) for sponsorship reasons, is the highest league of women's football in England. Established in 2010, it is run by the Football Association and features t ...

, as

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

beat

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

1–0.

International career

Ihringová was appointed to the FIFA list in 2001 and took charge of her first women's international, a

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

qualifier 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

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, in October of that year. She also participated at the 2002 edition of the

UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship The UEFA European Women's Under-19 Championship or simply UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship, is a competition in women's football for European national teams of players under 19 years of age. National under-19 teams whose countries belong to the ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. At the

2004 FIFA U-19 Women's World Championship The 2004 FIFA U-19 Women's World Championship was held from 10 to 27 November 2004. It was the second edition of the youth tournament for women put together by FIFA, before being renamed FIFA U-20 Women's World Championship for the 2006 edition. ...

, Ihringová was awarded the semi–final between

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

and

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. In June 2005 Ihringová was selected to referee the final of

UEFA Women's Euro 2005 The 2005 UEFA Women's Championship, also referred to as UEFA Women's Euro 2005, was a football tournament for women held from 5 June to 19 June 2005 in Lancashire, England and Cheshire, England. The UEFA Women's Championship is a regular tournament ...

, as

defeated

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

Ewood Park Ewood Park () is a football stadium in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, and the home of Blackburn Rovers F.C., founding members of the Football League and Premier League, who have played there since 1890. It is an all seater multi-sports facili ...

. After switching her allegiance to England, Ihringová refereed the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

' victory over

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu River, Y ...

Estadio Bicentenario de La Florida Estadio Bicentenario Municipal de La Florida is a multi-purpose stadium, located in La Florida, in eastern Santiago, Chile. It is the home stadium of Chilean football team Audax Italiano. The stadium was built in 1986 and rebuilt in 2008. The st ...

, in the final of the

2008 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup The 2008 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup was the 4th edition of the tournament. It was held in Chile between 19 November and 7 December 2008. Sixteen teams, comprising representatives from all six confederations, took part in the final competition, i ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ihringova, Sasa English football referees 1975 births Slovak football referees Slovak women's footballers Living people Women association football referees Women's association football players not categorized by position

Career

Early career

England

International career

See also

References