Rebecca Welch will become the first woman to referee a Premier League game when she takes charge of Fulham vs. Burnley on Dec. 23.
Sam Allison will also become the first black referee in a game for 15 years, following in the footsteps of Uriah Rennie. He will take charge of Sheffield United vs. Luton Town on Dec. 26.
Wendy Toms was the first woman assistant to run the line in the Premier League, and was followed more recently by Natalie Aspinall and Sian Massey-Ellis.
Last month, Welch became the first woman to act as fourth official when she was at the technical area for Fulham’s game against Manchester United last month, and now she has been given a game of her own.
The 39-year-old has enjoyed a meteoric rise this year, in January becoming the first female to take change of a Championship game, between Birmingham City and Preston North End.
Welch was then selected to referee at the Women’s World Cup, appointed to three games including the round-of-16 match between Australia and Denmark. Her hopes of refereeing further games in the tournament were effectively ended by England reaching the final.
North Riding referee Welch was offered promotion to the EFL as an assistant referee in 2017, but opted to switch to being a referee and work her way up the men’s game that way. She was officiating in the National League, the fifth tier of English football, by the 2018-19 season while also continuing in the women’s game.
She took charge of the Women’s FA Cup final in 2017 and 2020, and was promoted to UEFA’s elite category of female referees in 2020, when she left her job as an administrator in the National Health Service.
In 2021, she progressed to become the first female to referee a professional game in England, as Port Vale beat Harrogate Town in League Two.
It marks a further step by PGMOL, the refereeing body in England, to increase diversity in the professional game. In January, Bhupinder Singh Gill became the first Sikh-Punjabi to act an assistant referee in the Premier League.
PGMOL has also fast-tracked promising referees who have shone in lower leagues through to the Premier League this season. Sam Barrott had refereed just 10 matches in the Championship before being elevated to the top flight last month at the age of 30. A former Halifax Town youth player, he was only promoted to the EFL in 2020.
