The men who insulted her will now see her at the World Cup: Karen Díaz, the Mexican who will referee in Qatar

Karen Díaz, after an interview with EL PAÍS, in Toluca, in 2017. Francisco Cañedo

Karen Díaz (Aguascalientes, 38 years old) wanted to be a soccer player in a country that did not have a professional league.

She couldn't be.

The only way for her was to train with men in mixed teams, but that was not enough either.

Once, during a training session, the referee did not arrive and she offered to take the whistle.

What could have been a simple event became her way of life.

Díaz refereed fast soccer games, her first salaries were 55 pesos (two dollars) and she began to deal with the machismo that eats away at soccer.

"I came out crying from several amateur games and, at the time, I said: 'What the hell am I doing?' I told him in my mind: 'He's going to see me on television and he's going to swallow what he's telling me,'" the Mexican referee told EL PAÍS in 2017. Now, those neighborhood soccer players who reproached her so much for being a woman, Being a referee and authority will see you at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. FIFA has published the list of 36 central referees and 69 line judges, among which six women stand out: Stéphanie Frappart (France) —who has already whistled during a Champions League — , Salima Mukansanga (Rwanda) and Yoshimi Yamashita (Japan), Kathryn Nesbitt (United States), Neuza Back (Brazil) and Karen Díaz,these last two as the only representatives of Latin America.

Karen Díaz, during a Liga MX match in 2018, in Torreón. Armando Marin Paez (Getty Images)

At age 25, Díaz decided to enlist in the Mexican Referees Commission.

He left behind his career as an agro-industrial engineer to establish himself as a referee.

In her early years she was the center referee, however, she began to try her luck as a line judge.

She took the pennant and set out to earn a spot in Mexican soccer.

Her debut as a professional was in 2009, although it was until 2016 when she was in a First Division match, in a match between Pachuca and León.

Two years later, and with more experience, she obtained the FIFA badge, something that she credits as one of the best referees in her country and in the world.

In 2020, Karen Díaz took a chisel to carve history: she became the first woman to referee a Mexican championship final.

That León-Pumas match was one of her great consecrations, but not her last.

The meteoric rise of the line judge has been based on her expertise on the field of play.

She also at her temper to ignore the insults in the stands and the claims of the players.

The Liga MX Femenil, the first women-only professional tournament in Mexico, was born late, in 2017, when Díaz was 32 years old.

When it was founded, Karen Díaz was excited, although she had a warning to the leadership of the referees: They want it to be refereed only by women, my plan is to also be in the men's.

And so it has remained.

“We will not tire of repeating that what is important is quality and not gender.

I hope that, in the future, the fact that there are elite referees in major men's competitions is understood as something normal and ceases to be news," said Pierluigi Collina, president of the FIFA Referees Committee, on Thursday.

From the neighborhoods in Aguascalientes to Doha, Karen Díaz's journey does not stop.

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