Qhen FIFA announced the referees for the 2026 World Cup, the figure caught the eye. Among the 52 selected race directors there are two female referees: “well” two women or “only” two women? I am the American Tori Penso and the Mexican Katia Itzel García. Next to them, others four women are on the referee team as assistants and VAR officials. In total, therefore, six referees who will judge male footballers on the most important stage in men’s football. Six women out of 170 match officials selected by FIFA for the 2026 World Cup.
Female referees, the first time
The presence of women in international refereeing is no longer a taboo: women referee high-level matches, continental competitions and international tournaments. But, clearly, the World Cup is still the World Cup. Until 2022, no woman had ever refereed a match in the men’s World Cup.
The French referee Stéphanie Frappart
In Qatar, FIFA summoned three female referees: the French Stéphanie Frappartthe Rwandan Salima Mukansanga and the Japanese Yoshimi Yamashita. It was Frappart who made history by managing Costa Rica-Germany in the group stage, the first world match refereed by a woman. A watershed designation: a hitherto closed door opened for the first time.
Four years later, FIFA therefore confirms the female presence, but with still limited numbers. Of course, the two protagonists of this edition arrive with CVs that are difficult to dispute.
World Cup 2026, who is Tori Penso, American, referee and woman
Tori Penso, 39 years old, originally from Floridais considered one of the best referees in the world. In 2023 he refereed the final of the Women’s World Cup between Spain and England, one of the most prestigious roles in the entire refereeing scene. With the 2026 call-up, she becomes the first American woman to be selected as the lead referee in a men’s World Cup.
His story also tells of another transformation of contemporary football. For years, women’s refereeing remained confined to women’s competitions. Today I think He regularly officiates professional bouts in the United States and is evaluated according to the same parameters as her male colleagues. She was not chosen to represent a category, but because she is part of the international refereeing elite.
Katia García, Mexican referee at the 2026 World Cup
Also Katia Itzel García, 33 years old, represents a first time. It’s there first Mexican woman selected as main referee for a men’s World Cup. Graduated in Political Science from the National Autonomous University of Mexico, she began refereeing as a teenager after putting aside her dream of becoming a footballer.
Referee Katia Itzel Garcia gestures while talking to Guadalajara’s number 25 striker, during the Liga MX Clausura soccer match between Guadalajara and Tijuana at the Akron stadium in Guadalajara, Jalisco state, Mexico, April 2026 (Photo by Ulises Ruiz / AFP via Getty Images)
In recent years she has collected a series of firsts in her country’s football: first woman to referee a men’s Gold Cup match, first Mexican referee at the Olympic Games, first to reach some of the highest levels of international football.
VAR assistants and officials
The other four women on the referee team they are the Americans Kathryn Nesbitt and Brooke Mayo, the Mexican Sandra Ramírez, the Nicaraguan Tatiana Guzmán (VAR official).
If their careers show how much football has changed, the numbers of women referees at the World Cup show a change in progress. We cannot tell ourselves any fairy tales about the equality achieved but we can photograph a transition. We are, quite simply, in the middle of history.