On Saturday, Heini Hyvösen became the first woman to serve as an assistant referee at the highest men’s league level.
Hinn Hirvonen,
Bettina Törnvall
Heini Hyvönen made Finnish football history on Saturday, when she became the first woman to referee at the highest men’s league level. Hyvönen worked Turkka Valjakan with as assistant referees in the match between HJK and Lahti.
The match ended with Lahti winning 1–0.
– A really good start, I had a good team, good guys who played hard. This was a really big deal, it was nice to be in the Veikkausliiga game, Hyvönen told Urheilu.
Hyvönen’s Veikkausliiga debut was reported on Thursday, after which Hyvönen, originally from Mikkeli, says his phone was hot.
– In that way, the preparation was a little different, since the phone has been ringing quite a lot since the information hit the media. A few weeks ago, when the information was revealed to the referee friends, they immediately sent a lot of congratulatory messages. I got the feeling that they are really happy for me. Only positive feedback has come from everywhere.
Hyvönen’s Veikkausliiga debut was also watched by Palloliitto’s top referee coach Matthias Gestranius.
– A reliable performance from him, it was expected. He has done a good long-term job in the First Division and has shown that he has done well there. We decided to try him higher now, Gestranius commented.
Gestranius could not comment on how Hyvönen’s career in the Veikkausliiga will continue.
– We’ll see. He is still Ykkönen’s assistant referee. We have many good young assistant referees in the First Division. We will probably see other debuts during this season.
Refereeing in the Veikkausliiga was 29-year-old Hyvönen’s main goal this season. Last year, he served as an assistant referee at the under-19 European Championships in the Czech Republic. This season, Hyvönen has been seen mainly in the matches of the National League and the men’s First Division. In the future, Hyvösen also has goals on international fields.
– Let’s hope that in a few years, when the women’s European Championships are played, I would at least get into the selection group, so that there would be a chance to fight for places.
Chosen as a referee for the Women’s World Cup, which starts in twelve days Lina Lehtvaaraa was called the first referee working in the Veikkausliiga for a long time. Lehtovaara said in an interview with in May that he doubts that his Veikkausliiga dream will not necessarily come true.
Gestranius believes that a woman could be seen as the head referee in the Veikkausliiga. He could not say about the time.
– The future shows. I’m pretty sure it will happen at some point.
FC Lahti surprised HJK
In Hyvönen’s first Veikkausliiga match, FC Lahti, who were second to last in the standings before Saturday’s round, surprised HJK by being second.
Lahti won Altin Zeqirin with a hit created in the opening half. The Lahte team’s winning goal came after just over half an hour of play.
With the win, Lahti rose to ninth in the standings. For HJK, the match was the third without a win. The loss ended the club’s streak of nine Veikkausliiga matches.
The head coach Toni Koskela was naturally disappointed with his own actions.
– Regarding attacking, you can say pretty much the same things as in connection with a few other games. We are enough in the areas where we need to be, but we don’t have enough chances to score. Zero goals scored speaks for itself. We defended a few turnovers too poorly. Much needs to be improved.
HJK open their European campaign on Wednesday at home when they host Northern Ireland champions Larne FC.
According to Koskela, there is plenty to improve.
– Probably the most important is what happens in and near the opponent’s box, so that those moments turn into goal situations and goals. We lose a lot of duels and loose balls, where especially Wednesday’s opponent is good. We have to be clearly better than today in order to be successful in the next couple of matches.