Katia Itzel García will make World Cup history this summer as the only woman appointed as a main referee from Mexico — and one of just two women among 52 main referees selected worldwide.
The 2026 men’s global soccer tournament is set to start in 45 days, when Mexico faces South Africa on June 11 at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City.
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Last week, FIFA published the names of 52 referees, 88 assistant referees and 30 video officials for the expanded World Cup, which will be played in Mexico, the United States and Canada through July 19. (Previously known as a linesman or lineswoman, an assistant referee works the sidelines and mainly calls offsides violations.)
The 170-member officiating crew (including seven Mexicans) is the largest in tournament history. That’s because there will be 48 teams participating in 104 matches this year, up from the 32 teams playing 64 matches in the previous seven men’s World Cups.
There will be 41 more match officials than at Qatar 2022, when one of the assistant referees was Karen Díaz Medina of Aguascalientes.
This year, Mexico will have two of the 52 main (or center) referees, matching the totals for the United States, England and France, and trailing only Argentina and Brazil, which each have three.
In addition to García, the other main referee from Mexico is César Ramos, 42. The native of Culiacán, Sinaloa, has been a referee in Mexico’s top men’s pro league, Liga MX, since 2011 and has worked World Cups in Russia (2018) and Qatar.
García, 32, will be working her first men’s World Cup, but the Mexico City native has had major women’s soccer assignments, notably the 2023 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand and the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.
In 2024, she broke a two-decade barrier by becoming the first woman in 20 years — and only the second ever — to referee a Liga MX top-division match.
Also in 2024, she became the first woman to referee a U.S. men’s national team match, wearing the whistle for a USA-Panama friendly in Austin, Texas.
Joining García in the milestone department this year will be Tori Penso, 39, of Florida, who will become the first American woman to work as a head referee in a men’s World Cup.
In all, there will be six female officials in this summer’s World Cup: two main referees, three assistant referees and one who will be doing video reviews.
“We are going to go and kill it. There is no other way,” said one of the assistant refs, Sandra Ramirez, 37, of Guadalajara.
The full list of officiating assignments can be viewed here.
With reports from El Financiero, TeleSur and Milenio
