Scots club ice cold

Ex-Capitals goalie fired because wife is pregnant

Stefan Steen last played for the Vienna Capitals, now he and his wife are expecting a child.(Bild: GEPA)

After three years with the Vienna Capitals, Stefan Steen's move to the Dundee Stars seemed to be a done deal. The parties had reached an agreement, the old apartment had been cleared out and the couple were ready to move to Scotland. Until the call came from the club owner: As Steen's wife was expecting a child, the club didn't want to sign him after all ...

The couple had moved to their native Sweden after leaving the Capitals. "We decided to stay at home quietly - if there wasn't an offer from somewhere that felt quiet and safe and the language wasn't a potential problem," Steen told the Swedish daily newspaper Värmlands Folkblad.

When the Dundee Stars suddenly contacted Steen's advisor Michael Latschenberger, he made it clear to the club: "I replied that Stefan is available - but he and his wife are expecting a child soon. So they need their own apartment and their own car. That was the first thing I said! He replied that there were no problems, that they had had two players in the same situation last season and everything had gone well."

"Don't want this stress"
And so the parents-to-be started packing again, with the parties signing a provisional contract. However, the owner Steve Ward was unable to stop the goalie from turning him down after all. "Unfortunately I have bad news, nothing is going to happen ... I don't want a goalkeeper whose wife is pregnant - I don't want that stress," Ward is said to have told Latschenberger on the phone. And that two days before the end of the transfer window ...

Steen is now without a club and is considering legal action against the Dundee Stars. "I have to check what rights I have. How the league - which I've heard a lot about anyway - deals with it. I want to show that it's not right and make sure that nobody else gets into the same situation," says the former Capitals professional.