Nicole Petignat

Nicole Petignat(born October 27, 1966, inLa Chaux-de-Fonds,Switzerland) is aSwissformerfootballreferee.In August 2003 she became the first female referee of a men's football match organized byUEFA;AIK Fotboll(SWE) versusFylkir(ISL) in the preliminary round of theUEFA Cup.

Career

Petignat passed her youth in the canton ofJura.She started to take courses of arbitration in 1983 and consecutively climbed all the levels leading to the arbitration in the national League A (later theSwiss Super League). Petignat is one of only few female referees to work in professional male football with matches in the first Swiss andAustrian Bundesligaleague. Altogether, Petignat refereed 91 Swiss first league matches and in May 2007 the final of theSwiss Cup–FC BaselversusFC Lucerne.Her experience was also recognized when she became the first woman to referee a maleUEFA Cuptie in 2003.

In July 1999 inLos Angelesshe refereed the final of theFIFA Women's World Cupbetween theUnited StatesandChina.She controversially failed to penalise American goalkeeperBrianna Scurryfor moving forward off her goal-line during thepenalty shoot-out.In September 2000, she refereed in the women'sfootballtournament at theOlympic Games of Sydneyand in 2001 she was in charge of theUEFA Women's Eurofinal;GermanyversusSweden.Later she refereed at the2003 FIFA Women's World Cup,theWomen's Euro 2005and theWomen's World Cup 2007.

As a player, Petignat played up to second division level in Switzerland. She lives in Watt, in the canton of Zurich, where she is a medical masseuse. From 2000 to 2006 she lived together with the Swiss refereeUrs Meier.In December 2008, Petignat resigned as a referee.

Literature

• Pierre-André Marchand: Nicole Petignat. La fille que siffle les garçons. Éditions Favre, Lausanne 2006,ISBN2-8289-0899-2

External links

• Breaking the Grass Ceiling
• Nicole Petignat at www.fifa.com
• Video excerpt of Nicole Petignat working 2007 WWC semi final game: US vs. Brazil