Who is María Solé Ferrieri and what is the story of the first woman to referee the Peruvian national team?

Ferrieri, 32 years old, will lead the refereeing panel along with his compatriots Alessandro Giallatini and Ciro Carbone. On the side of the 'sele', they had never been refereed by a female referee before; the Germans, on the other hand, have already had two main judges: Croatian Ivana Martincic directed them in the 9-0 victory against Liechtenstein for the qualifiers for Qatar 2022 in November 2021, and already in the World Cup, Frenchwoman Stephanie Frappart administered justice in their 4-2 victory against Costa Rica.

Important Name in Italy

María Solé Ferrieri, a professional sociologist, has been a FIFA head referee since 2019 and at the age of 32 she has already made history in Italian football. On October 2nd of last year, she became the first female referee to officiate in Serie A, in the 5-0 victory of Sassuolo against Salernitana in the eighth round of the Calcio.

According to the press in her country, Ferrieri had a good debut as a head referee in Serie A, with a sober and determined performance, awarding a penalty in favor of Sassuolo after a hard tackle by a rival defender. And despite the protests from Salernitana players, her decision was ratified by VAR and during the match, she showed two yellow cards, one for each team.

“I had a little more tension, but then, when I got to the field, I did my job as always. It's good to talk about it, it can lead other women to follow my path”, said María Sole Ferrieri to local media after making her debut in Serie A.

Although she has only been refereeing in the top division of Italian football for less than a year, she has a great support and experience in other divisions. At the age of 17, she refereed her first match in the youth category, at 25 she started officiating in Serie D (fourth division), and at 30 she made her debut in Serie C.

In July 2022, she was promoted to the elite of Italian referees after officiating 23 matches in Serie C, three matches in Serie B, and two matches in the Coppa Italia in 2021. In this 2022-23 season, she has already officiated one Serie A match, another Coppa Italia match, and eight Serie B matches.

Precisely, on December 31st, she officiated the match between Cagliari and Parma. In that game, Gianluca Lapadula played the full match but did not score any goals. That match ended in a 1-1 draw, and Ferrieri showed five yellow cards, two for the Peruvian team and three for the opponents.

Her good performances have paid off, as she has been called to referee the match between Peru and Germany, which will be her first match as the main referee in a senior national team match.

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