Soccer Championship
A special honor for the Austrian assistant referee Sara Telek: The 33-year-old will be on the sidelines on Tuesday (9 p.m., live on ORF1) in the semi-finals of the European Football Championship between hosts England and Sweden in Sheffield. It is the second appearance at the European Championship for the Lower Austrian, and she was on the sidelines in Germany’s 4-0 win over Denmark shortly following the start of the finals in England.
The game will once more be led by the Swiss Esther Staubli, with Telek assisting her compatriot Susanne Küng on the other side. The fourth official is Ukraine’s Kateryna Monzul, who refereed Austria’s 2-0 win once morest Northern Ireland.
Telek ended a dry spell in the German 4-0 win once morest the Danes: It is the first Austrian referee contribution at a football finals in the adult sector since 2008. At that time, Konrad Plautz was in two games of the men’s home European Championship (including his then assistants Egon Bereuter and Markus Mayr) in action.
Pioneer in Austria
“She is currently our absolute flagship,” emphasized Agnes Prammer, responsible for the women’s sub-area in the referee committee of the Austrian Football Association (ÖFB), before the start of the tournament in the APA interview. Telek was the first referee in the men’s Bundesliga on February 22, 2020, and then more often in 2021/22. Telek, who has been a FIFA assistant since 2016, is one of 25 assistants nominated for the European Championship. There are also 13 female referees and 15 video assistant referees.
Austria’s best referee
Sara Telek is a referee – with this European Championship she is fulfilling her big dream of a major event.
Telek was on the line in the 2021 Champions League final. Now a similar big highlight awaits. The EM will probably not be the last major event for the ex-sports club kicker. Telek was added to FIFA’s prospect pool for the 2023 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand a year and a half ago. “She just has this will to work on herself to achieve her goals,” Prammer predicted a rosy future for Austria’s best assistant.