Rebecca Welch is to become the first woman referee to officiate in an English Premier League game as she has been selected as the fourth official for Saturday’s game between Fulham and Manchester United at Craven Cottage.
The 39-year-old English referee began her professional journey to refereeing in the year 2015. She became the first woman to be appointed to referee an English Football League game when she was appointed to referee a League Two match between Harrogate Town and Port Vale, that took place at Harrogate’s EnviroVent Stadium.
This season, Rebecca has been appointed to officiate a game in the English Championship, two games in league two and a game in League one. In all of those four games, she issued 20 yellow cards and a red card.
In seven tournaments, she has appeared 83 times, issued 279 yellow cards and one red card since making her professional debut.
During the last World Cup in Qatar, FIFA, for the first time named six female match officials to officiate in the FIFA Men’s World Cup. Spanish Stephanie Frappart, Rwanda’s Salima Mukansanga and Japan’s Yoshimi Yamashita as well as assistant referees Back, Diaz and Kathryn Nesbitt of the US.
Spanish Stephanie Frappart made history as she became the first woman referee to officiate a FIFA World Cup game (Men) as a centre referee during the 2022 World Cup group E game between Costa Rica and Germany.
