Finnish referee Lina Lehtovaara refereed two group stage matches at the European Championships and was the fourth referee in the quarter-final match and the semi-final match.
15:49•Updated 15:49
Finnish judge Lina Lehtovaara refereed the final match of the Women’s Champions League in May, and was a strong candidate to referee the final match of the European Championship as well. The jury for the European Championship final match was announced on Friday, but the Finnish referee’s name was not found on the list.
A Ukrainian was named the head referee of the EC final between England and Germany Kateryna Monzul. The assistant referees of the match are from Ukraine Maryna Striletska and Poland Paulina Baranowska. The fourth judge is France Stephanie Frappart.
Top referee coach of the Swedish Football Association Mattias Gestranius according to that, Lehtovaara was also a candidate for the four referees in the final.
– He was involved in the selection until the last meters. He only came home yesterday when it was announced who would whistle in the final. I personally want to believe that previous performances in the tournament are always the ones that decide, Gestranius commented to Urheilu.
Monzul, 41, has had a long refereeing career and has refereed three Women’s World Cups. In 2015, he whistled the World Cup final between the USA and Japan. He has also acted as a judge in his home country’s men’s main series.
Accommodation was found in Turin. Monzul was able to continue refereeing the women’s main series as well as the boys’ main series.
In the European Championship in England, Monzul refereed the preliminary series matches between Spain-Finland and Austria-Norway, as well as the quarter-final between Sweden and Belgium.
Social media speculated that the choice of the Ukrainian Monzul as the main referee of the match was political. Gestranius does not want to take a stand on speculation.
– I firmly believe that it is the performances that decide, and of course that’s how it should be heard. From what I have seen of Monzuli in the games, he has also whistled extremely well. Certainly the really small margins have decided the choice, Gestranius saw.
A strong tournament at Lehtavaara
Lina Lehtovaara was the head referee in two group stage matches: Norway–Northern Ireland and Italy–Iceland. In the playoffs, he acted as the fourth referee in the England-Spain quarter-final and the Germany-France semi-final.
In his debut in the competition, Lehtovaara also awarded England’s first penalty kick of the European Championship, when he took the ball to the spot after the VAR check.
According to Gestranius, Lehtovaara performed his task perfectly.
– He held the Finnish flag very high and did excellently. In the first game, there was a hand foul and the penalty kick was missed, but I know how difficult it is to see a hand foul. In the Italy-Iceland game, especially in the second half, he was a very strong leader, and I appreciate that especially in the refereeing. I think he has done very, very well, Gestranius concluded.
England and Germany in the final of the European Championships on Sunday from 19:00. The live broadcast starts at 18:00 on TV2, Areena and the app. Bet on the opening goal scorer of the match in Futistietäjä and win a technical ball!