Knut Kircher (born 2 February 1969) is a former German

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

referee who is based in

Rottenburg am Neckar Rottenburg am Neckar (; until 10 July 1964 only ''Rottenburg''; Swabian: ''Raodaburg'') is a medium-sized town in the administrative district (''Landkreis'') of Tübingen in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It lies about 50 kilometres (31 miles) s ...

. He refereed for TSV Hirschau of the

Württemberg Football Association The Württemberg Football Association (), the ''WFV'', is one of 21 state organisations of the German Football Association, the ''DFB'', and covers the north-eastern part of the state of Baden-Württemberg.

Refereeing career

In 1998, he became a referee in the 2. Bundesliga. Kircher was then promoted to referee in the German

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

for the 2001–02 season. In 2004, he became a

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

referee. He officiated his first match on 8 September 2004; the World Cup qualifying match between

Andorra Andorra, officially the Principality of Andorra, is a Sovereignty, sovereign landlocked country on the Iberian Peninsula, in the eastern Pyrenees in Southwestern Europe, Andorra–France border, bordered by France to the north and Spain to A ...

and

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

(1–5). Kircher retired from officiating in 2016 because he reached the age limit for German referees, which is 47. His final Bundesliga match officiated was between

Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), commonly known as Bayern Munich (), FC Bayern () or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. They are most known for their men's professional football team, ...

and

Hannover 96 Hannoverscher Sportverein von 1896, commonly referred to as Hannover 96 (), is a German professional association football, football club based in the city of Hanover, Lower Saxony. They played in the Bundesliga for a total of 30 years between 19 ...

Personal life

Kircher studied at and graduated from the University Albstadt-Sigmaringen engineering department. He lives in Rottenburg, and is married with three children. His main job is working at

Daimler AG Mercedes-Benz Group AG (formerly Daimler-Benz, DaimlerChrysler, and Daimler) is a German multinational automotive company headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is one of the world's leading car manufacturers. Daimler-B ...

, where he lectures.

References

External links

Profile
at worldfootball.net
Interview with Knut Kicher
at sueddeutsche.de 1969 births Living people German football referees People from Tübingen (district) Sportspeople from the Upper Palatinate UEFA Europa League referees 20th-century German sportsmen 21st-century German people {{Germany-footy-bio-stub