21 Concacaf referees selected to 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup

MIAMI, Florida – This Monday, the FIFA Referees Committee announced the names of the match officials appointed for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia/New Zealand.

Of the 107 referees selected, 21 will represent the Concacaf region from seven different Member Associations: United States, Canada, Mexico, Costa Rica, Honduras, Jamaica, Nicaragua and Suriname.

“After the tremendous success of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar where the Concacaf referees performed very well, refereeing 12 matches, including a semi-final, these appointments demonstrate how our referees at both male and female levels have reached the top,” said Concacaf Technical Refereeing Advisor Nicola Rizzoli.

“We are the only confederation to have two female Video Match Officials (Carol Anne Chenard of Canada and Tatiana Guzman of Nicaragua). This is the continuation of a journey that began with the 2022 Concacaf W Championship in Mexico where we were the only confederation in the world with only female VMOs,” added Rizzoli.

Seven women have been appointed as Head Referees for the 2022 FIFA Women’s World Cup: Marianela Araya (Costa Rica), Marie-Soleil Beaudoin (Canada), Melissa Borjas (Honduras), Katia Garcia (Mexico), Ekaterina Koroleva (United States), Myriam Marcotte (Canada) and Tori Penso (United States).

Ten Concacaf match officials will have the opportunity to serve as Assistant Referees in the tournament. They are: Chantal Boudreau (Canada), Enedina Caudillo (Mexico), Karen Diaz (Mexico), Felisha Mariscal (United States), Brooke Mayo (United States), Kathryn Nesbitt (United States), Shirley Perello (Honduras), Sandra Ramirez (Mexico), Mijensa Rensch (Suriname) and Stephanie Yee Sing (Jamaica).

Both Diaz and Nesbitt recently made history at the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 by becoming two of the first women to work as Assistant Referees during a Senior Men’s World Cup match.

For the first time in FIFA Women’s World Cup history, six female Video Match Officials have been selected, including Chenard and Guzman, while Drew Fischer (Canada) and Armando Villarreal (United States) will also serve as VMOs in Australia/New Zealand.

“We face this FIFA tournament with great expectations, knowing that the competition from world referees is very high, but with the conviction that we can be appointed in any kind of match.

“This success follows a project that began years earlier with a great commitment from Concacaf and the refereeing department. Now the future is all in the hands of our match officials to whom the entire referee department wishes them good luck,” concluded Rizzoli.