During the World Cup game between Australia and Canada, ZDF presenter Sven Voss caused a stir. The reason was a remark to the referee.
At the women’s World Cup, hosts Australia made it into the round of 16 on Sunday. The Olympic champions from Canada were dismantled 4-0. The Australians’ 2-0 lead was rightly withdrawn by referee Stéphanie Frappart after video evidence was used.
This circumstance ultimately caused a stir in Germany as well. Not because Frapparts made a wrong decision, but because ZDF presenter Sven Voss made a comment during the analysis of the scene during the half-time break that was not well received.
Twitter user angry at Sven Voss
Because at this World Cup, the referees announce their decisions after VAR use over the stadium loudspeakers. This was also the case yesterday in Melbourne, when Frappart explained the offside position in the appropriate way.
Voss later commented: “Sweet voice, but that’s just by the way.” This then led to criticism of the moderator on social networks. Twitter user Maximilian Rieger, for example, wrote about Voss: “And so today’s Wim Thoelke Prize for sexism in sports reporting goes to him!” In 1970, Thoelke, as the moderator of the “Sportstudio”, repeatedly disparagingly assessed women’s football, which was still in its infancy, on his show.
Other Twitter users were also annoyed by Voss’ comment. One of them wrote: “Sach ma’, Sven Voss, is it somehow hacked?” Another commented: “What kind of sexist comment was that ‘sweet voice’, would Mr Voss say the same thing about a male referee?! No!”