Three American women walked onto the pitch at Atlanta Stadium on June 18 and did something no all-American, all-women crew had ever done before: officiate a men’s FIFA World Cup match.
Tori Penso served as center referee while Brooke Mayo and Kathryn Nesbitt worked as assistant referees for the Group A match between Czechia and South Africa, which ended in a 1-1 draw.
A first for American women, a second for the World Cup
This was the first time an all-American, all-women officiating crew has taken charge of a men’s World Cup match. It was also only the second time in the tournament’s 96-year history that an all-women crew officiated any men’s World Cup game, period.
Penso, 39, became the first American woman to serve as the center referee for a men’s World Cup match.
