A few years ago, Howard Webb and Bibiana Steinhaus played in official matches at the World Cup, now I assume they are married
Former referees of the World Cup and Champions League final Howard Webb and Bibiana Stone House They are delighted after revealing that they were recently married. The two elite officials, who took responsibility for playing games at the top of football, officiating in five World Cups between them, got married last month in Hannover, Germany, the hometown of Steinhaus.
In what may have been a nod to his profession, Webb wore a completely black suit, while the equivalent of Brangelina’s world referee (Howiana? Bibward? Webbhaus?) Posed for their wedding photos.
“It’s true. We got married on the last international break and we are very happyBibiana, who now uses the surname Steinhaus-Webb, told the German newspaper picture. “Due to the regulations imposed by the coronavirus pandemic, unfortunately we managed to take this important step alone.”
“Witnesses were not even allowed to marry. And, of course, I haven’t been on my honeymoon yet”.
Webb, 49, is a former Premier League official who has officiated more than 500 highly competitive matches throughout his career, including the Champions League final and the South African World Cup, both played. in 2010. LThe World Cup final between teams from the Netherlands and Spain was known for its high degree of conflict.
Steinhaus is proud of a similar resume, having officiated at all levels of women’s football, including a Champions League final, the 2011 Women’s World Cup final in Germany and the 2012 Summer Olympics gold medal match.
The 42-year-old official made history during the 2017-18 season, becoming the first referee to oversee a men’s Bundesliga match. She was sometimes abused from the stands, but that did not stop her from enjoying an elite career, in which she was named female referee of the year by the German Football Association (DFB) seven times. Steinhaus retired in September 2020, after officiating the German Super Cup match between Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund.
Howard and Bibiana served as police officers before becoming professional referees and together supervised hundreds of games since graduation in 1995 and 1999, respectively.
Webb officiated 534 matches between 2000 and 2013, administering 1,694 yellow cards and 68 red cards. However, he later confessed that he felt “more than disappointed” because he did not expel Nigel de Jong because the Dutch player hit Xabi Alonso in the first half of the 2010 World Cup final. , De Jong managed to get rid of her. And to be punished only with a yellow card, despite the fact that he put his nail on Alonso’s chest. However, Webb later recalled that he was unable to see the real impact of the raid due to its location on the ground; therefore, he believed that the action deserved only a warning.
According to FIFA, Steinhaus-Webb ended his career after refereeing in 23 Bundesliga matches, in addition to 92 matches in the German second division and 35 in the women’s Bundesliga. where he made his college debut. According to the statistical portal Soccerbase, the referee administered 164 yellow cards and 3 red cards in the competitive men’s matches played between 2015 and 2020.
At least for now, the happy couple will live on both sides of the Atlantic: Webb currently lives in New York, where he works as general manager of the Professional Referees Organization of the Major League Soccer; while Steinhaus lives in Germany, where he works as a VAR officer at the DFB headquarters in Cologne. Clearly, sharing a fervent passion for maintaining law and order on football fields, they are made for each other.
Although the news of the marriage of two professional referees is somewhat revolutionary, it is not entirely unprecedented.
In 2019, the fourth division of Romania, facing the teams of CA Oradea and CS Diosig, had an unusually romantic start, as one of the referees working on the field proposed to another.
In the pre-game, the assistant referee Marius Matica knelt down and asked his friend Gyorgi Duma, who was training the other side, the question.
Spoiler alert: she said “yes”.
ESPN Germany correspondent Stephan Uersfeld contributed to this note