Female referee Emanuela Rusta has revealed she is fed up of being referred to as ‘the sexy ref’ after officiating in the Women’s Champions League.
Rusta, 30, hails from Albania, and after becoming the first woman to referee a men’s Albanian SuperLiga match she has made the step up to the European stage in recent months.
She has previously been active on social media, posting glamorous photos of herself in a bikini and working out at the gym, but has now shut down her Instagram account due to receiving sexist messages on the platform.
Rusta, who is due to referee tonight’s Champions League women’s match between Sporting Lisbon and Real Madrid, believes media coverage of her appearance has made it difficult for her to reach the same level as her male counterparts.
‘They should focus more on my professionalism than on other things,’ she told AFP, as quoted by Marca.
Emanuela Rusta (pictured) has refereed multiple women’s Champions League matches
But she has attracted more attention for her physical appearance rather than her officiating
Rusta has shut down her Instagram account after being subjected to sexist messages
Rusta has had to put up with headlines such as ‘The sexy referee who raises the temperature’ in her homeland, while another report in 2022 claimed she ‘stole the show’ in a Champions League match, despite only being the fourth official.
Rusta added: ‘You have to fight hard to be accepted. You have to blow the glass ceiling to pieces’.
Despite having to deal with off-field comments about her physical appearance, Rusta feels she is respected on the pitch, and hopes to receive more exciting opportunities in her chosen profession.
‘Refereeing is not a question of gender, but of competence,’ she stated.
‘The (Albanian) Referees Association has always focused on promoting women, so my case is not a coincidence or the end of the process. I hope that the day is not far off when there are four women refereeing a match in the top men’s category.
‘Although it is apparently a predominantly male environment, I feel respected and appreciated for the work I do on the field.’
The 30-year-old has revealed she is sick of being referred to as ‘the sexy ref’ by the media
Rusta has ambitions of refereeing top level men’s matches in the future
She could follow in the footsteps of Stephanie Frappart (pictured) who has refereed in the men’s Champions League and at the 2022 World Cup
Rusta could follow in the footsteps of fellow female referee Stephanie Frappart, who became the first woman to officiate a men’s Champions League game when she took charge of Juventus’s clash with Dynamo Kyiv in 2020.
She went on to make further history at the 2022 men’s World Cup when she refereed Germany’s group match with Costa Rica in Qatar.