Croatian Ivana Martinčić named 3rd best female football referee in the world
- by croatiaweek
- in Sport
ZAGREB, December 29, 2025 (Hina) – The International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS) has named Croatian referee Ivana Martinčić the third-best female football referee of the year.
Martinčić finished in third place with 67 points. Italy’s Maria Sole Ferrieri Caputi was named the best with 97 points, while France’s Stéphanie Frappart came second with four points fewer, according to the information published on the IFFHS website on Thursday.
The Križevci-born referee officiated the biggest match of her career at the end of May – the UEFA Women’s Champions League final between Arsenal and Barcelona.
Ivana Martinčić (Photo credit: Steffen Prößdorf/CC BY-SA 4.0)
In July, she also refereed the semi-final of the Women’s European Championship between England and Italy.
She began refereeing in 2008 and has been on FIFA’s list since 2014.
Four years ago, she made history as the first woman to officiate a men’s top-flight Croatian league match as the main referee, taking charge of the fixture between Gorica and Hrvatski dragovoljac.
