May 6, 2011 - Harbour B defeated Quanzhou Yaxin 2-1 in the 7th round of the Chinese B League last weekend. Referee Tian Jin became the first female referee to officiate in a Chinese men's professional match proper. In an interview, she said she hopes to enforce World Cup matches.
Born in 1993, Tian Jin is now a physical education teacher and soccer coach at Zhejiang University. She became a national referee in 2012, and last year officially became China's second "90" women's soccer international referee, executing the University Soccer World Cup, Asian Football Confederation U17 Women's Soccer Asian Cup Qualifying Match, East Asian Youth Sports Men's Division Semi-Finals, etc. The semifinals of the East Asian Youth Sports Men's Division.
Tian Jin is from Wuhan and graduated from Wuhan Sports Institute. In an interview, she said, "Because I was tall and athletic when I was a child, I was selected for the area's soccer team on the first day of junior high school. At first, I was a striker, and later I was a goalkeeper."
"It's a team sport. The practices and games are fun, but when I first started college, I got hurt so I didn't play professionally. I just played soccer with my former teammates when I could."
He said, "I wasn't eligible to apply to be a referee at the last Women's World Cup, and I'm aiming for the next one where I can stand on an international pitch and blow the whistle."
One thing to emphasize is that national-level female referee Dai Bingyue served as the fourth official in this match, which highlights the success and emergence of Chinese women in the field of soccer refereeing. Born in 1995, Dai Bingyue was a member of the women's youth soccer national team and transitioned to become a soccer referee in 2016, refereeing many important matches such as the National Games, Youth Games, and Women's Professional League.
During this pre-tournament training, both Tian Jin and Dai Bingyue successfully completed the men's standardized fitness test, thus qualifying them to play in the higher level men's professional league. This historic implementation arrangement is an important step in the CFA's efforts to promote gender equality and diversify refereeing.
In fact, the CFA has already attempted to have female referees Xie Lijun and Dong Fangyu serve as assistant referees and video assistant referees, respectively, and successfully completed the enforcement of four matches. This year, the CFA has launched a new initiative to allow outstanding female referees to enforce men's professional matches. The CFA plans to progress gradually to provide more qualified female referees with the opportunity to demonstrate and improve.
