First female Fifa referee from Wales

Found a nice video online from referee Charlotte Carpenter. Who is that? you might think. She’ll introduce herself: “I am Charlotte Carpenter and I am the first female Fifa referee from Wales.” The 26-year-old is from Abercynon, a small town where also two of the nine male referees come from. Carpenter now joins Lewiss Edwards, Fifa Assistant Referee and Richard Harrington, who also became an international ref in 2015.

Carpenter has only been a referee for three years and already got her Fifa badge. “”It’s craziness – I’m on cloud nine,” she told BBC. “This is my third season and it has been a rapid rise. I think the first games I will get will be U19 games, which could be anywhere in Europe.”

First female Fifa referee from Wales will go to Athens by the end of January to do some fitness test and get an introductory course. “Hopefully in the next couple of weeks I’ll be having my Uefa appointments.” That could be mini-tournaments from under 17 or under 19 girls. “I’m really looking forward to it.”

Carpenter has set some major goals, but the first thing she wants to achieve is: “I want to raise the profile of women referees in Wales.” In her future career she aims for a much higher goal. “On a personal level, I’m going to try and get to Fifa’s elite level, which means I will be able to referee at Champions League games and the World Cup.”

Check out this video of Charlotte Carpenter at a Women’s Semi- Cup Final.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPyKwIJ9eR4