Rebecca Welch will referee the Fulham-Burnley match on December 23. Sam Allison will referee the Sheffield-Luton Town game on December 26, the first black referee since 2008.
By the end of the year, there will be a milestone in English soccer refereeing. The Premier League announced on Thursday, via its official platforms, that the Fulham-Burnley match, scheduled for December 23, will be the first game in the English top flight to be refereed by a woman. The referee in question is Rebecca Welch.
This isn’t the first time Welch has made history. In 2021, she became the first woman to be appointed to referee a match in the EFL, i.e. the lower divisions, when she oversaw the match between Harrogate Town and Port Vale. Interestingly, Welch was also the referee for the women’s Champions League match between Benfica and Frankfurt at the Estádio da Luz.
Rebecca Welch won’t be the only one to make history. Sam Allison will also feature in the Premier League over Christmas. The Englishman will referee the Sheffield-Luton match on December 26, becoming the first black referee to referee a game in England’s top flight in 15 years, since Uriah Rennie stopped refereeing in the Premier League in 2008.
