WHEN A WOMAN SOLDIER REFEREES

28. July 2014.

Vranje/Bujanovac - A football match between the teams of the Army of Serbia and KFOR was recently played on a big football field in the “Jug” army base near Bujanovac. The players of both teams played extremely well, while no one remained indifferent to the way the football trio, which was led by Corporal Jasmina Zafirovic Stijelja from Vranje, refereed the game. Jasmina's excellent referring of the game was a surprise to the members of KFOR, but her colleagues from the Fourth Brigade of the Army knew well that she was undoubtedly the best in the Army of Serbia.

She started acting as a referee in football games in 2001, and as soon as 2009 acquired the status of an international football referee. Since then, she refereed at more than fifty international women's football matches. The most important football game where she acted as a referee was the one between France and Italy in 2012, which was for the semi-finals of the European Championship and undoubtedly a great international career awaits her.

“Football matches tend to be dramatic, especially when a football team’s title or relegation is decided at them. I’m not afraid of incidents. I act as a football referee in accordance with the rules of football games and I’m successful when both teams are satisfied”, Jasmina says.

Her love of sports influenced her determination to become a professional soldier.

“I’ve been in the Army since 2008 and I am very satisfied. I perform the duties of a shooter in the 42 nd. Infantry Battalion, and in my future career, I would like to drive military vehicles, as I was once a civilian driving instructor,” said Jasmina.

Source: Ministry of Defense and Coordination Body