Born in Palencia but attached to the school in Tenerife, Marta Huerta de Aza, 33 years old, yesterday became the first Spanish referee to officiate a Women’s World Cup match, China-Haiti, played at the Australian Hindmarsh Stadium and resolved with a 1-0 victory for the Chinese team.
The performance of the Spaniard was not without controversy in a match complicated to referee. In the 29th minute came the first key play. China’s Zhang Rui made a mid-height tackle with her cleats ahead of Sherly Jeudy. The Spanish referee showed him the yellow, but the Canarian Hernández Hernández, from the VAR, called it for the review and the one from Palencia did not hesitate: he rectified, red and in the street. China was down one player with an hour to go.
There would still be three more plays in which the VAR decision would be decisive. The first was a goal disallowed in Haiti for offside: Borgella scored after a pass from Mondesir, but this player was ahead. The last two were the most transcendent. In the 76th minute, in a play in which Huerta de Aza had been flagged for offside and which had ended with a fall in the area on Linyan Zhang, the VAR again demanded a review. There was also rectification: regulation and penalty position in favor of China, which marked Wang Shuang; the 1-0 that would give victory to China.
There was more controversy. During added time, the referee indicated in the 92nd minute a penalty in favor of Haiti for a tackle on Eloissant. Once again a visit to the VAR changed the decision and China secured the three points.
The Spanish referee is no stranger to those who follow women’s football. On the contrary: it is fixed at major events, both nationally and internationally. At the last European Championship in England, she led the opening match, played on July 6, 2022 at Old Trafford, in which she was accompanied by Guadalupe Porras Ayuso, her eternal defender.
International since 2016, Huerta de Aza has refereed women’s Champions League matches and in Spain, apart from directing women’s football matches, she has been the main referee in Primera RFEF matches, also acting as fourth referee in the Men’s League . In fact, the one from Palencia and her colleague Guadalupe Porras Ayuso starred in another important moment when they completed for the first time in the highest category of Spanish football an arbitration quartet with two women. It was in a Getafe-Real Sociedad game on October 3, 2021, in a match refereed by the Andalusian Figueroa Vázquez.
For many years, Huerta de Aza combined her passion for refereeing with her teaching profession. “It was the result of necessity. When I wasn’t arbitrating, I didn’t receive any financial compensation and I couldn’t risk having an injury, being sick or anything that would prevent me from receiving any amount”, he clarifies. A profession, that of teaching, which he abandoned when his daughter, Valeria, was born. “I decided to quit because if I worked, refereed and wanted to be with my daughter, I wouldn’t be able to count the hours I had in the day,” he points out.
For Huerta de Aza, refereeing in the World Cup is the culmination of his life’s dream: “Behind this there is a lot of suffering, a lot of sweat, many hours of training and the fact that you also deprive yourself of things in the family sphere”. In 2022, she was designated by the IFFHS (International Federation of Football History and Statistics) as the fourth best referee in the world.
