Incredible as it might sound, Kari Seitz was ready to quit refereeing quite early in her career. When she was 16 years old, Seitz worked the middle of an Under-12 boys game at a youth soccer tournament in Michigan. “There was so much talent on the one side that at 9-0, the defender for the losing team just couldn’t take it any more and tackled the forward, ripping his shirt as he headed for goal,” Seitz told the U.S. Referee Connection several years ago. “This was well before the red card for denying a goal-scoring opportunity, but I knew this behavior warranted a red card. Of course, the parents of the losing side couldn’t believe it and started to get upset.” It was one of the first red cards Seitz ever handed out. “I went home devastated after hearing what the parents had said and how awful they had behaved,” she said. “I felt that not only was this job not worth the trouble, but I must have made a terrible mistake and was not fit to officiate.” Later that evening, Seitz received a call from the tournament director, asking her to return and work the final the next day. She said that the director “was impressed by my courage to do the right thing”. “I was blown away,” she said. “The lesson was that this job requires courage, that you should always do what you know to believe to be right and true. In the end. by putting your best foot forward, no matter the game or the level, you can hold your head high. “You never know when your courage will get you your shot at that next big game. This lesson has held true throughout my career.” It would have been a shame if Seitz quit because she would not have had been able to cast her unique, giant shadow on refereeing the domestic and international game. Seitz officiated four consecutive Women’s World Cups and three Olympic soccer tournaments, among other events. “I consider myself extremely fortunate to have had such amazing opportunities to represent my country,” she told the Connection. “It has been my absolute pleasure and honor to be a representative of U.S. Soccer, and there are countless special moments.”
Seitz will receive the biggest honor of her career when she is inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame on May 1, 2026, in Frisco, Texas. She was elected from the Builder Ballot. Seitz lived a legendary career as a referee. She is the only person to officiate four Women’s World Cups (1999, 2003, 2007 and 2011) and three Olympic soccer tournaments (2004, 2008 and 2012). She was the 2005 recipient of U.S. Soccer’s Presidents Award and is a member of the Cal-North Soccer Hall of Fame. Off the field, she was the head of FIFA Women’s Referees and became U.S. Soccer’s first Vice President of Refereeing in 2024. Perhaps former FIFA referee Fernando Alvarez, who was California’s director of assessment for officials at the time, said it best in an interview with the Ann Arbor News in 2004. “Kari is now one of the best referees in the world, male or female,” he said. “When she enters the field, teams respect her. When she makes her signal for fouls, there is authority.” Born on Nov. 2, 1974, Seitz grew up in Brighton, Michigan. Like many children, she played soccer. But fate pushed her in another direction. “I was a goalkeeper,” she told the Los Angeles Times in 2012. “I’m 5-4, so that wasn’t going to last forever.” In 1985, Seitz’s travel coach, Jack Wrosch, required everyone on the team to become a referee so they would understand the laws of the game. “Brighton is really where my love of soccer began,” Seitz told the Livingston County Daily Press and Argus in 2004. “Officiating was pretty much a requirement for my coach, and it’s not for everybody. Most people drop out within the first year. When you have people yelling at you, you have to have some pretty thick skin.” Seitz faced plenty of challenges four decades ago. “I had a trifecta of challenges,” she told Soccer America earlier this year. “I was younger, small in stature, and female. You walk to the field, and they assume that you know nothing. It’s a cultural bias. You got the, ‘Go back to the kitchen … you don’t belong here. …’ There weren’t many people like me. There weren’t many other female faces.’” She persevered - and she developed the qualities that helped her excel as a referee. “A referee needs to be a student of the game, and they must have an understanding and empathy for what is happening in a match,” she told the Connection. “The more you understand what is happening, the better equipped you are to deal with it in a proper way - one that gets the players back to focusing on the game rather than you. “Not an easy task. It requires a lot of mental preparation.”
A major turning point came in 1994, when she attended the opening match of the FIFA World Cup between Germany and Bolivia at Soldier Field in Chicago. She was captivated by Mexican referee Arturo Brizio Carter. “I’ll never forget it,” she told the Times. “Him walking out, just the way he commanded the game. And I said that’s what I was going to do.” At the time, Seitz told her husband, Glen VarnHagen: “I’m gonna be here someday, refereeing matches at this level,” she told the Detroit Free Press. In June 1999, she received a call at 10:30 p.m. at her San Mateo, Calif. home, asking her if she could be on a plane to Boston at six the next morning. The Women’s World Cup needed an emergency replacement referee after a game official was denied a visa. “She was very stunned, very surprised and very scared at the same time,” VarnHagen told the Free Press. Seitz left a message for the San Francisco advertising agency where she worked, saying she would be gone for a month. Her first game was a 1-1 draw between Australia and Ghana at Foxboro Stadium. She doled out three yellow cards and a red card. “It was an incredible experience, especially because I didn’t get any time to prepare for it,” she told the Free Press. Seitz refereed nine games at the Women’s World Cup (in 1999, 2003, 2007 and 2011) and six at the Olympic Games (in 2004, 2008 and 2012). In 2004, she was selected to work the Olympics for the first time in Athens, Greece. “I was jumping around and crying when I got the call,” she told FIFA.com. “In the U.S., you’re brought up to see the Olympics as the ultimate sporting event. To be appointed to this competition was an acknowledgement that I had reached the top. “In the end, I was lucky enough to have this moment three times in my career.” Seitz never worked a Women’s World Cup final, but that was through no fault of her own. Because the U.S. Women’s National Team usually has gone deep in tournaments - or competed in the championship game - she could not officiate the match. “It benefits the U.S. if they succeed,” she told the Livingston County Daily Press and Argus in 2003. “So, it’s fine if I do the least games possible.” Seitz officiated the third-place match between Sweden and France at the 2011 Women’s World Cup. That stood for a dozen years as the highest-level World Cup game refereed by an American until Tori Penso officiated the 2023 Women’s World Cup final. In 2012, Seitz had the honor of officiating the very first event at the London Olympics, working the Great Britain-New Zealand contest. “She is probably, male or female, the most experienced referee that we have,” Sandra Serafini, who ran U.S. Soccer referees’ development and training program at the time, told the Times. “She’s definitely one of the elite referees of our generation.” On the domestic front, Seitz was in demand, working the middle of pro league matches from 1998 to 2013. She officiated in Major League Soccer, the Women’s United Soccer Association, Women’s Professional Soccer and National Women’s Soccer League. Seitz refereed the 2009 and 2011 WPS championship contests and the 2013 NWSL final. During MLS’ early years, Seitz was an assistant referee. She got an opportunity to work the middle of the San Jose Clash’s 1-0 victory over the visiting Kansas City Wizards on Oct. 6, 1999. “As a woman referee coming up, sometimes it was difficult to get those matches,” Seitz told ussoccer.com in 2013. “The domestic leagues and games are really what make you who you are as a referee. Those are competitive matches, so for an assignor to say, ‘I want to give her a chance,’ I had to do my best to get through those challenges. That made me a better referee.” Working off the field as an advertising executive went hand in hand with being a referee. After graduating from Michigan State University in 1992, Seitz put her bachelor’s degree in advertising to good use in marketing and media roles. “As a referee, you have to be accountable, responsible, a people manager, apply teamwork and have courage to take decisions,” Seitz told FIFA.com in 2021. “All great skills for football, for life and for work. Even simple things like looking someone in the eye while shaking their hands and projecting a sense of confidence - all those things helped me in my job. “It helped me mature a lot faster and be successful in my work.”
After retiring, Seitz was named FIFA head of women’s refereeing in 2016. “The position at FIFA as Head of Refereeing has given me the chance to really focus on driving the necessary change towards gender equality,” she told FIFA.com. “I jumped head-first into this new role. It really allows me to accomplish my goal in a way I wasn’t able to do as a referee. Having the opportunity to promote the qualities of women referees around the world is a dream come true. “I am so lucky and honored to have this opportunity, and I want to do everything possible to move the ball forward.” More recently, Seitz brought her 40 years of officiating experience to American soccer. In February 2024, she was named U.S. Soccer’s first Vice President of Refereeing. “Returning to the U.S.A. to lead the federation’s refereeing department is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Seitz told ussoccer.com. “I want to thank U.S. Soccer for recognizing the importance of investing in refereeing, an often overlooked and underappreciated, yet integral part of the game. It is an incredible responsibility to lead the growth, development, and support of refereeing at all levels of the game, and I know with the support of the U.S. Soccer referee family our collective passion, experience, and knowledge can take refereeing in the U.S.A. to new heights.”
Source: NSHF
