Rebecca Welch is set to become the first woman to referee a Premier League match on Dec. 23 when she takes charge of Fulham vs. Burnley.
The 40-year-old became the first woman to act as a fourth official in a Premier League game last month when Fulham played Manchester United.
In January this year she was the first woman to referee a Championship game between Preston North End and Birmingham City. She also refereed at the Women's World Cup this summer and oversaw the Women's FA Cup Finals in 2017 and 2020.
"Rebecca is a really calm, focused individual on the field," said referees' chief Howard Webb. "She does command a lot of respect in a pretty understated way. She has a good reading of the game; she is an accurate decision-maker, a good athlete on the field, too."
"When you meet her, she's not got a huge stature in terms of being really tall, but she's got a presence about her. She's a really determined official. She is similar in some ways to Stephanie Frappart, the French official who has worked on the Champions League this year."
"She's worked hard physically, technically, and really does deserve this opportunity. I went to see her myself recently in a game in the Championship and was highly impressed by what I saw in terms of her command of the game, good reading of the game, good subtle management of the players as well, and I've got no doubt she'll show all of those qualities at Fulham."
Confidence in her own judgement has always been there for Welch; she admits she only got into refereeing after criticizing a friend's refereeing.
"I played football and didn't even think about refereeing until one of my really good friends, who is a referee, refereed us," said Welch. "I spent the whole game telling her how to do her job! Her response was, 'If you think it's that easy, give it a go.' That's how it happened and 10 years later, here I am."
At a time when voices like Joey Barton argue that "women shouldn't be talking with any kind of authority in the men's game" at all, the importance of Welch's assignment is not lost on Webb.
"Of course, it's significant in terms of Rebecca being the first female to take the whistle in the Premier League; she was the fourth official a few weeks ago for the first time, and we have lots of talented female officials working in the game. We have Kirsty Dowell taking charge of her first Football League game this weekend at Doncaster Rovers; she's another Fifa-registered official."
"I just hope that other people will see the success of these female officials, young girls and young women, and think that refereeing might be for them."
"We need greater diversity because undoubtedly there is quality in all communities and previously for whatever reason we have not been able to bring people through from these groups and now it's happening at last, thankfully."
