Maria Sole Ferrieri Caputi, applause and new record at her first Serie A premiere

The match director from the Livorno section also awarded a penalty shot.

At the Mapei Stadium in Reggio Emilia on Sunday, history was made in the Serie A championship: not so much for the final result of Sassuolo-Salernitana, a roaring 5-0 win for the neroverdi, but for the match direction of Maria Sole Ferrieri Caputi, the first woman to referee in the top Italian soccer league.

The match director, among other things, also set a new record in the annals of Italian football: she is in fact the first woman referee to award a penalty kick, after Maggiore’s foul intervention in the area on Ceide in the final minutes of the first half. The decision made on the field was confirmed after the Var check: it was Andrea Pinamonti who scored the maximum penalty.

Lega Serie A wanted to celebrate, through its social channels, a historic day for soccer in the Bel Paese, with a promise: “Maria Sole Ferrieri Caputi: first woman to referee a match in our top league, but not the last,” reads the official Twitter profile.