 Maria Sole Ferrieri Caputi at Benito Stirpe Stadium, Frosinone | |||
| Born | (1990-11-20)20 November 1990 (age 34) Livorno, Italy | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Other occupation | University researcher | ||
| Domestic | |||
| Years | League | Role | |
| 2007– | FIGC | Referee | |
| 2015–2020 | Serie D | Referee | |
| 2020–2022 | Serie C | Referee | |
| 2021– | Serie B | Referee | |
| 2022– | Serie A | Referee | |
| International | |||
| Years | League | Role | |
| 2019– | UEFA Listed | Referee | |
| 2023– | FIFA Listed | Referee | |
Maria Sole Ferrieri Caputi (born 20 November 1990) is an Italianfootball referee.
Affiliated to the section of her native city,Livorno, Ferrieri Caputi enteredAIA in 2007.[1] In November 2015, she refereed the Levito–Atletico San PaoloSerie D match.[2]
In 2019, she refereed theTorneo di Viareggio tournament and became an international referee.[3] She made her international debut inScotland–Cyprus, valid for theUEFA Women's Euro 2022 qualifiers.[3]
In 2020, she was promoted toSerie C after five years in Serie D, followed by theVAR room designation for Serie B.[4] On 8 December of that year, she debuted in a match involvingPro Patria andPro Sesto.[5]
In October 2021, she made her Serie B debut inCittadella–SPAL.[6] On 15 December of that year, she refereed theCagliari–CittadellaCoppa Italia match,[6] giving three yellow cards and disallowing three goals,[3] becoming the first female to referee a Serie A team of men's football.[7] On 8 January 2022, she refereed the final of the2021–22 Women's Supercoppa Italiana,Milan–Juventus 1–2.[8]
On 1 July, she was promoted toSerie A.[6][9] She was fourth official inMonza–Udinese on Matchday 3.[6] Having already refereed two Coppa Italia and two Serie B matches, on 28 September she was designated to referee Sassuolo–Salernitana, which was played four days later, becoming the first woman to referee a Serie A match.[6]
In early January 2023, she was included in the list of the match officials that were selected for the2023 FIFA Women's World Cup inAustralia andNew Zealand;[10] On 17 January, she refereed the Coppa Italia match betweenNapoli andCremonese and was part to the first all-female refereeing triad in Italian men's football, with assistants Francesca Di Monte and Tiziana Trasciatti.[11]
In late March, she refereed the match between theGermany–Peru friendly, won by the former 2–0, thus becoming the first Italian woman to referee an international match in men's football.[12]
In late May, she was chosen as AVAR 2 (Assistant Video Assistant Referee 2) for the2023 UEFA Women's Champions League final.[13]
On the following 14 December, she officiated the Women's Champions League group stage match betweenParis Saint-Germain andReal Madrid, with Di Monte and Trasciatti as assistants and Maria Marotta as fourth official.[14]
Ferrieri Caputi was born inLivorno, Italy to parents ofApulian origin. She revealed that her love for football started when her father took her to theStadio Armando Picchi, in Livorno and that she decided to become a referee after seeing a flyer at the exit of her school.[15]
She has a bachelor's degree inPolitical Science andInternational Relations from theUniversity of Pisa and a master's degree inSociology from theUniversity of Florence.[16] She is a researcher at the Adapt Foundation (Association for International and Comparative Studies on Labour Law and Industrial Relations) and a doctoral candidate at theUniversity of Bergamo.[17]
On 1 April 2023,Lega Serie A published adocumentary on itsYouTube channel, titledUn giorno di Sole (A sunny day), on Ferrieri Caputi's refereeing career.[15]