For the first time in history of the Ukrainian football championship, the Ukrainian Premier League Matchday 22 FC Metalurh Donetsk vs FC Tavriya Simferopol will be officiated by female referee Natalia Rachynska, Ukrainian referees’ supervisor Pierluigi Collina has said.
“The following weekend for the first time the game of the Premier League will be handled by a female referee. But I think that this practice is absolutely normal. If the assistant referee has really done well, a man he is, or a woman, I don’t care. The main thing is that people do their job well. So Mrs. Rachynska will be assigned to one of the Premier League’s games,” Collina emphasized.
Kyiv’s Natalia Rachynska, 40, has been working in football officiating for over 11 years. The former professional football player (played for Dynamo Kyiv and the French Toulouse) she completed her playing career in the late 90s after the birth of a son. Her referee career began in 2000 at the amateur level, and in 2003 she officiated Second League matches. A year later, she received the status of the FIFA referee.
