Duo picked for cup finals

German official Christine Beck and Switzerland's Nicole Petignat will have the honour of refereeing the two legs of the UEFA Women's Cup final.

Swift rise
Beck, 33, will be in charge of the first leg between Umeå IK and Arsenal LFC in Sweden on 21 April and will be assisted by compatriot Inke Müller and Spain's Yolanda Parga Rodríguez, with another German, Bibiana Steinhouse, the fourth official. Having joined the FIFA list in January 2004, Beck has experience of FIFA Women's World Cup and UEFA European Women's Championship qualifiers, and last season refereed a FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup semi-final.

Petignatin charge
Eight days later Petignat, 41, will referee the return leg at Borehamwood, assisted by fellow Swiss official Elke Lüthi and Spain's María Luisa Villa Gutiérrez, with Ester Staubli, also of Switzerland, completing the quartet. Petignat took the step from player to referee following encouragement from her twin sister Dominique and has been on the international list since 1996.

Distinguished career
Among the highlights of her career have been handling the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup final in front of 90,000 fans in Pasedena, taking charge of the 2001 UEFA European Women's Championship decider between Germany and Sweden, and becoming the first female to referee a men's game in European competition when she was handed the whistle for the 2003/04 UEFA Cup qualifying encounter involving AIK Solna and Fylkir.

First such final
Indeed, Petignat is a regular referee in the Swiss Super League. She has never handled a UEFA Women's Cup final but was in charge for one leg of Umeå's successful last-four encounters with HJK Helsinki in 2002, 1. FFC Frankfurt the next year and Kolbotn IL this term.