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| Felix Brych |
German referee Felix Brych has capped a stellar season with his election as The World’s Best Referee 2017 in the annual IFFHS Awards.
Brych, 42 years old, was already in the Top 5 in the last three years and was the referee in june 2017 of the Champions League final between Real Madrid and Juventus. He won with a large margin before the english referee Martin Atkinson and the italien Niccola Rizzoli.
Selected journalists and experts from 91 countries around the World took part in the 2017 annual election of the Top referee, the 31th time it has been carried out by the IFFHS.
Felix Brych, born in München, has been a leading referee in the German Bundesliga since 2004 He has been in charge of more than 500 official matches in his career including 115 international confrontations.
He succeeds in Germany Dr Markus Merk, who won the IFFHS Award in 2004, 2005 and 2007. His calm authority and his regularity made it possible to win this recognized World Award.
Martin Atkinson has been a leading contender in England for the past few years while Nicola Rizzoli had won the Award for 2014 and 2015 before ending his referee career.
Bibiana Steinhaus is World’s best woman referee
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| Bibiana Steinhaus |
Outstanding referee Bibiana Steinhaus made it a double for German football when she won the 2017 IFFHS vote as The World’s Best Woman Referee in same time that Felix Brych by the men.
Steinhaus became the happiest woman in the football world and stepped into a new area in May 2017 when the DFB Referees Commission announced she would be the first woman to take charge of matches in the men’s major Bundesliga in Germany. In September she took to the field to become the first woman to referee matches in the top five leagues of the World !
91 Experts and journalists from all continents crowned Bibiana Steinhaus for the third time after 2013 and 2014 to The IFFHS World’s Best Woman referee 2017 with a convincing advance.
She began her referee career in 2005, leaded matches of men Second Bundesliga and woman international matches since 10 years, for example the World Cup final 2011 in Germany, the Olympic Games final 2012 in England and the Champions League final 2017 in Wales.
The Swiss referee Esther Stäubli took a brilliant second place in the ranking, she became this year the first woman referee to lead a men World Cup Under 17 match in India.
Behind her, the two last winners Katalin Kulcsar (2016) and Katerina Monzul (2015) were preceded at the third place by the French Stephanie Frappart, revelation of the season.
Men ranking
1 – Felix BRYCH (Germany) 178 points
2 – Martin ATKINSON (England) 73 points
3 – Nicola RIZZOLI (Italy) 59 points
4 – Mark CLATTENBURG (England) 50 points
5 – Nestor PITANA (Argentina) 46 points
6 – Bjorn KUIPERS (Netherlands) 44 points
7 – Damir SKOMINA (Slovenia) 40 points
8 – Cuneyt CAKIR (Turkey) 39 points
9 – Milorad MAZIC (Serbia) 38 points
10- Antonio MATHEU LAHOZ (Spain) 32 points
11- Gianluca ROCCHI (Italy) 20 points
12- Wilmar ROLDAN (Colombia) 18 points
13- Papa Bakary GASSAMA (Gambia) 17 points
14- Jonas ERICSSON (Sweden) 16 points
15- Viktor KASSAI (Hungary) 14 points
16- Fahad AL MIRDARI (Saudi Arabia) 6 points
Simon MARCINIAK (Poland) 6 points
18- Malang DIEDHOU (Senegal) 3 points
Alireza FAGHANI (Iran) 3 points
20- Cesar Arturo RAMOS (Mexico) 1 point
Women ranking
1 – Bibiana STEINHAUS (Germany) 232 points
2 – Esther STÄUBLI (Switzerland) 137 points
3 – Stephanie FRAPPART (France) 50 points
4 – Katerina MONZUL (Ukraine) 38 points
5 – Katalin KULCSAR (Hungary) 35 points
6 – Riem HUSSEIN (Germany) 26 points
7 – Pernilla LARSSON (Sweden) 18 points
8 – Anastasia PUSTOVOITOVA (Russia) 17 points
9 – Carina VITULANO (Italy) 15 points
10- Olga MIRANDA (Paraguay) 14 points
11- Teodora ALBON (Romania) 12 points
11- Claudia UMPIERREZ (Uruguay) 12 points
13- Sara PERSSON (Sweden) 11 points
14- Jana ADAMKOVA (Czech Republic) 8 points
15- Kate JACEWICZ (Australia) 7 points
16- Carol Anne CHENARD (Canada) 6 points
17- Gladys LENGWE (Zambia) 2 points
18- Ri Hyang OK (Korea DPR) 1 point