Rebecca Welch will become the first female referee to take charge of a Premier League game as Fulham host Burnley on Saturday (Today).
Top flight officials in general have been under intense scrutiny this season, but “resilient” Welch will be leading the way as a role model for other female referees when she walks out on to the Craven Cottage pitch before the 15:00 GMT kick-off.
Already an experienced referee who has taken charge of matches at the highest level in the women’s game, Welch’s rise to the top of men’s football in England has been meteoric.
Welch hails from Washington in Tyne and Wear and, alongside her job at the NHS, became a referee in 2010 before turning to officiating on a full-time basis in 2019.
She hit the headlines last week when it was announced she would be in charge of her first top-flight game, just two years on from becoming the first female appointed to an EFL match when Harrogate played Port Vale.
Harrogate boss Simon Weaver praised Welch’s “very good” performance on the day, making “important calls” and the “right calls” – and Welch has gone on an upward trajectory since, refereeing matches in the Championship and the third round of the FA Cup.
In the women’s game, she has been a leading light for English officials in the Women’s Super League as well as the 2017 and 2020 FA Cup finals.
Her work has been recognised on the international stage too as she was added to Fifa’s elite list of international match officials in December 2020, before refereeing at the Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand in the summer.
“We have not seen a female take charge of a Premier League game ever before,” referees’ chief Howard Webb told BBC Sport.
“We have some really talented officials in the men’s and women’s game. Rebecca is leading that.
“She went to the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. She has been exposed to some big games and I am really confident she will deliver a game in the Premier League and be a really good model for women and girls to think refereeing is for them when previously they didn’t.”
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