Women’s football has its own remarkable stories: last-minute goals, pioneers of the game, and stars that hoist trophies high amid the roars of ecstatic fans... But there are other key figures who, beyond being essential participants, are also part of each feat: the referees.

During the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup Dominican Republic 2024™, these women, unlikely to receive a standing ovation for their work, took up their positions in the middle of the pitch and along the touchline to do what is sometimes considered the most difficult job of all: be impartial, accurate and above all, invisible.

Vimarest Díaz and Ainhoa Fernández are two of them. They hail from different countries and backgrounds, but both have arrived at the same destination: the top level of women’s officiating for the U-17 Women's World Cup.

Let’s go back to 3 December 2015. Venezuela and Colombia were battling it out for one of the two South American qualifying spots for FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup Papua New Guinea 2016™. 

With the match all square heading into the final few minutes, Díaz fired her team into the lead with a header from a corner. The scenes were immense, and the goal was enough for Venezuela to secure qualification for their first ever U-20 Women’s World Cup.

“That was one of the best moments of my life,” she recalled when she sat down with Inside FIFA. “That feeling of euphoria, that happiness, that energy that you feel in that moment is completely different to anything else,” she added. 

But Vimarest’s story is not one of someone who chose her destiny, or at least, not consciously. She was a footballer. She was a good player. But one day she would arrive in the Dominican Republic where she would find her true calling. “I think that, as a player, you never imagine being a referee at any point. Often, many players see us as the bad guys on the pitch, so you can’t imagine doing it,” she confessed. 

“I came to this beautiful country – the Dominican Republic – and that opened up many doors for me. I came across very important people like Irasema Aguilar, Head of the Dominican Referees Department, who suggested that I became a referee. And, honestly, I’ve loved it from the first moment. I completely fell in love with the job.”

For Ainhoa, she ended up being a referee through a different path. Her home country of Andorra has little experience in international competitions, and her career as a goalkeeper was cut short through injury. “I started refereeing because of an injury that stopped me from playing, but not running,” she said.

What started as a short-term activity, became her life purpose. At 24, she decided that she would be an assistant referee. And while Andorra did not afford her many opportunities on the pitch as a footballer, she instead found plenty on the touchline. “I saw more opportunities as an assistant referee,” she explained, fully aware that in a country of Andorra’s size, being an international referee is a huge achievement that allows her to travel and share some of her culture, while also be an ambassador for Andorra to the rest of the world.

Their experience as footballers was certainly not wasted time. All the years that they invested playing the game are paying off today as well. 

“When you used to play, you understand how the other players feel on the pitch. You know when a match is starting to boil over, when a player loses their temper, because you’ve been there before,” explained Díaz. That gives you an advantage, but also a responsibility: now you have to try and control what used to control you.”

Today, a few years later, they laugh thinking about the times when they disagreed with the referee. Now that they have the whistle in their hand, they see things in a different way.

Vimarest sees the funny side: “I was one of those players who could be a little... expressive with the referees, shall we say,” she confessed with a grin. “I really didn’t see eye to eye with this one referee. Now that I am one myself, I wanted to find her to apologise and tell her, ‘Look, I admire what you do, because now I understand how difficult it is to be in your shoes'." 

What they have learnt is that being a referee is learning to accept mistakes. Because mistakes are inevitable. “Our biggest mistake is our best teacher,” said Vimarest, citing Bibiana Steinhaus-Webb, the head of Women’s Refereeing at FIFA. “We are human, and I can’t say that we are not going to make a mistake in the future or that we never have made one in the past. So we have to keep working on that, get over it and move on.” 

Being a referee is increasingly a paradox. “We have to be invisible,” they both said, almost in unison. Because if they do their job well, no-one will speak about them.

Vimarest is fully aware of that. “Of course there is pressure – there’s no denying that,” she admitted. “There is always that weight on our shoulders, but we have to know how to channel it and use it so that feeling of pressure makes us do a better job whenever we step onto the pitch.” 

Ainhoa, for her part, spoke in a more measured manner when faced with these big moments. “When all is said and done, you work with your team, you prepare, you train and you do the best that you can. When you step onto the pitch, all of that disappears.”

Both are going through a special period in their lives, boosting sporting careers which they can be immensely proud of. “I’ve achieved a lot of my dreams in my short time as a referee. I was the first woman to officiate a men’s match in the Dominican league,” Díaz reflected. 

“That was huge for me. It makes me so happy. As does being here representing my country for Concacaf. One of my goals is to continue working as hard as possible to one day be able to officiate in a senior women’s World Cup, or who knows, maybe in the men’s World Cup.”

Meanwhile, Fernández is instead trying to enjoy and appreciate the present moment. “I didn’t even think that I would be able to accomplish half of what I have achieved up to now. So I think that my dream is to stay on the same path as I am now. Let’s see what the future brings,” she concluded. The pair would rather dream big and not put any limits on what they can achieve.