Kateryna Monzul will referee the Euro 2022 last between England and Germany at Wembley Stadium this night, months after fleeing Ukraine.
The 41-year-old was residing in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest metropolis, till Russia’s invasion of her nation in February.
For 5 days she hid underground at her dad and mom’ home, earlier than leaving her homeland together with her two sisters and their three kids.
“This is a really emotional moment for me, and I’m enjoying it,” stated Monzul, who began out as a global referee in 2004.
“My heart is already beating fast. It’s the moment when a dream you have comes true.”
“But I must say that it’s also a moment where I feel responsibility, because I’ll be refereeing an important football game.”
Monzul will turn into the primary official from Ukraine to referee a Women’s Euro last, main out the 2 groups earlier than a sell-out crowd.
She felt proud and joyful when she known as her loves ones again in Ukraine to inform them of her choice for the massive recreation.
When she “heard their happy and positive response,” she realised “how important it was for them as well as for myself”, she stated.
Earlier this yr Monzul travelled by Moldova, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic earlier than arriving in Germany and later Italy, the place she continued her profession as a referee.
“It was stressful and difficult,” she stated. “When we left Ukraine, we didn’t have any ideas what the next step was for us.”
Last yr Monzul grew to become the primary lady to take cost of an England males’s recreation, throughout their World Cup qualifier in opposition to Andorra in October.
She made historical past as the primary feminine official to supervise matches within the Ukraine males’s Premier League in 2016.
Monzul has additionally taken cost at three Women’s World Cups together with the 2015 last when the United States beat Japan 5-2, in addition to males’s matches within the Europa League and Europa Conference League along with the Nations League.
Source: information.sky.com”