Kirsty to referee Cup Final
Kirsty Dowle will take charge of this season’s Vitality Women’s FA Cup Final at Wembley Stadium connected by EE.
The appointment of the referee and her team of officials was confirmed following the conclusion of the semi finals last weekend.
For the Women’s Final between Chelsea and Manchester City, which takes place on Sunday 15th May, Kent referee Dowle will be assisted by Emily Carney and Magda Golba with Lisa Benn taking the role of fourth official. The reserve assistant referee will be Georgia Ball.
Dowle is a regular referee in the Barclays FA WSL, as well as being Level 2B in the men’s game and also a FIFA women’s referee, having started her refereeing career eight years ago.
She was also an assistant referee at the Women’s FA Cup Final in 2018 and is now looking forward to stepping out at Wembley next month.
“It came as a shock, I got a phone call yesterday which I missed because I was at work,” Kirsty revealed to the FA website. “And when I heard the voicemail of ‘it’s the FA, can you give us a call back?’ I thought I was in some sort of trouble!
“It wasn’t something I was really expecting but it’s always nice to get that kind of news.
“This is what every referee wants and it’s what you work hard for, so it’s great to have this kind of game to look forward to.
“I think it’s just the occasion and with the way in which women’s football is growing so rapidly, with the EUROs coming up this year and we’ve [England] just done well in the Arnold Clark Cup, we’ve now got two brilliant teams in the Cup Final and it should be an amazing day.”