The 2026 World Cup will have a historic milestone this Thursday (18). North American Tori Penso will be the first referee to take charge of a men’s World Cup match, in the clash between Czechia and South Africa.
The game, valid for the second round, takes place in Atlanta, in the United States, at 1 pm (Brasília time). Alongside Penso, fellow Americans Brooke Mayo and Kathryn Nesbitt will act as assistants.
The lineup marks a new chapter in the female presence in the main football competition. The most important precedent occurred in 2022, in Qatar, when Frenchwoman Stéphanie Frappart led a duel with an exclusively female field refereeing team, with Brazilian Neuza Back and Mexican Karen Díaz Medina as assistants.
The 2026 edition maintains the number of women selected for arbitration. Six professionals are part of the FIFA list: Tori Penso and Katia Itzel García as central referees; Brooke Mayo, Kathryn Nesbitt and Sandra Ramírez as assistants; and Tatiana Guzmán as video officer.
These six representatives correspond to around 3.5% of the 170 professionals chosen for the competition. According to FIFA, the definition of referees follows technical criteria and performance assessments in national and international competitions over recent years.
Tori Penso has an established career
At 39 years old, Tori Penso arrives at her first Men’s Championship with an outstanding CV. In 2020, she became the first woman in two decades to referee a match in the MLS, the main football league in the United States and Canada.
Her worldwide recognition came in 2023, when she led the Women’s World Cup final, between Spain and England, in Sydney. With this, she became the first referee from the United States to officiate a women’s World Cup decision. Tori Penso has also worked on men’s and women’s tournament matches, and is married to referee Chris Penso.
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