FIFA has appointed two women chief referees for the matches of the third round of the 2026 World Cup.

American Tori Penso and Mexican Katya Garcia have been appointed chief referees for the matches of the third round of the group stage of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. This was announced on June 22 by the press service of the International Football Federation (FIFA).

It is specified that Penso will serve the meeting of the national teams of Germany and Ecuador, which will be held on June 25. For the American referee, this game will be the second in the current tournament as the main referee. Previously, she worked in this status at the second round match between the Czech Republic and South Africa, which ended with a score of 1.:1. Thus, Penso will become the first woman appointed as the chief referee for two matches of the world championship among men's teams.

She is the second woman in history to hold this position: the first was Frenchwoman Stephanie Frappard, who officiated the 4-2 meeting between Germany and Costa Rica at the 2022 tournament in Qatar. A team led by Garcia will work on the match between the national teams of Tunisia and the Netherlands. This meeting will take place on the night of Friday, June 26.

World Cup without a world Cup: what scandals are coming to the start of the 2026 World Cup

The upcoming tournament has already been marked by international conflicts, stories surrounding the participants, and fans' discontent.

The Guardian newspaper reported on June 15 that one of the representatives of the refereeing team of the Germany – Curacao match at the 2026 World Cup in North America, Australian Sean Evans, folded his fingers during a video presentation in a gesture that some fans perceived as racist. In 2019, this gesture — thumb and forefinger joined in a circle, with the rest of the fingers extended — was recognized as a symbol of hatred by the New York-based Anti-Defamation League.