Grandiose premiere

“This league is a completely different number again”

Amina Gutschi performed perfectly on her Bundesliga debut in Salzburg, making no mistakes.(Bild: GEPA pictures)

Last Saturday's Bundesliga match between Red Bull Salzburg and GAK ended goalless. It was not only the two teams' harmless attacking lines that were responsible for this, but also Amina Gutschi from Vorarlberg. The 37-year-old had two goals disallowed for offside on her Bundesliga debut - and was absolutely right.

"I got more nervous with every second that the review took longer," said assistant referee Amina Gutschi, describing how she experienced the 95th minute of the Red Bull Salzburg v GAK match on Saturday. On her debut in the men's Bundesliga, the Dornbirn-based referee had disallowed the supposed last-minute winning goal for the home side by Karim Konate due to Aleksa Terzic's previous offside position. As a result, the video assistant referee (VAR) reviewed the situation - and confirmed Gutschi's decision, which meant the score remained 0-0.

"I didn't expect that"
The 37-year-old was delighted with a more than successful debut in the top men's division. "I didn't make any mistakes and everything really worked out for me," beamed the psychologist, who was only the second woman after Vienna's Sara Telek to play in the men's Bundesliga. As early as the 22nd minute, the Vorarlberg native correctly ruled out the supposed opening goal for GAK by Dominik Frieser as offside. "I certainly didn't expect to concede two goals in my very first game."

Vorarlberg native Amina Gutschi was only the second woman to take the line in the Austrian men's Bundesliga.(Bild: GEPA pictures)

The 37-year-old did an excellent job.(Bild: GEPA pictures)

She remained calm and in control for over 95 minutes of the game.(Bild: GEPA pictures)

She was also spot on with two offside decisions.(Bild: GEPA pictures)

Praise from referee boss Kassai
The feedback on Gutschi's performance was correspondingly positive. "Referee boss Viktor Kassai was on site in Salzburg and was just as satisfied as referee observer Thomas Einwaller," revealed the mother of two, who was quite nervous in the run-up to the match. "On the one hand, I was delighted that the moment I'd been working towards for so long was finally coming. On the other hand, you also realize that many eyes are on you." Amina was all the more relieved that everything worked out so perfectly in the end.

Tight program awaits 
"The Bundesliga is a whole different ball game to the second division," is her general summary. "The pace and level of play are much higher, which means there are hardly any rest periods." This also applies to her program in the coming days and weeks. "Now it's straight on to Switzerland, where a UEFA elite training course is coming up for the Women's Euro 2025. Next weekend, I'll be back in action in the second division and then an international match awaits," Gutschi revealed.