Kerem Demirbay of Fortuna Düsseldorf suspended for insulting a female referee.

Reading Time: < 1 minute

 Bibiana Steinhaus
photo-imago

Kerem Demirbay has been in the news of late. The Fortuna Düsseldorf player is accused of making a sexist remark to the female referee,Bibiana Steinhaus, who handled the match between FSV Frankfurt against Fortuna Düsseldorf on Sunday.Steinhaus issued a yellow-red card to Demirbay in the match.

In his reaction to the referee’s decision,Demirbay told Steinhaus,”women have no place in men’s football.” His verbal remarks was deemed unsportsmanlike by the German FA supervisory committee.He is suspended for five games, with two games from the five on probation for a year.Technically he will miss three matches.

Demirbay used the social network, Facebook, to express his apology to Steinhaus,he said,”I am extremely sorry for what I said to Mrs Steinhaus. I should have never said this sentence, because it is not what I think of women.”

Earlier in the week, Fortuna Düsseldorf’s management, suggested that Demirbay should referee a female match as a measure to sensetize the player to females in the sport. Unfortunately,the FA has issued a sanction that Fortuna Düsseldorf think is harsh.According to a press statement by Sports director,Rachid Azzouzi,the club will make an appeal.