The Men's World Cup Just Saw a First

Fans in Atlanta saw history Thursday before the first whistle blew. As the Washington Post reports, the World Cup group-stage match between the Czech Republic and South Africa featured the tournament's first all-American, all-women officiating crew: center referee Tori Penso and assistants Brooke Mayo and Kathryn Nesbitt. The trio, longtime members of FIFA's officiating pool, have already worked some of the sport's biggest stages together, including the 2023 Women's World Cup final and the Concacaf Nations League. The work it takes to make it to this elite level is intense, notes Yahoo in a profile of Penso, who works out for two and a half hours every day in order to keep up with some of the fastest people on the planet.

Women first took the field as referees at a men's World Cup in 2022 in Qatar, where Nesbitt was among six selected. Thursday marked the men's World Cup debuts for Penso and Mayo, who like Nesbitt left established careers to go all-in on officiating. Penso once juggled marketing work with part-time refereeing; Nesbitt walked away from a chemistry professorship; Mayo paused a job in public education and later came out publicly, also making her the first openly gay official at a men's World Cup. "I know we represent something bigger than ourselves," Mayo said.