Referee Brooke Mayo Wiki, Age, Partner, Gay, LGBTQ+
Brooke Mayo Biography – Brooke Mayo Wiki
Brooke Mayo is an American soccer referee and a FIFA assistant referee since 2018. Mayo grew up in Garland, Texas and began refereeing soccer at age 13. She moved up through the ranks, spending two years officiating in the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL). In 2018, she was selected for the prestigious FIFA International Referee Panel, making her one of only six female American assistant referees on the panel at the time.
Mayo is currently serving as an assistant referee at the 2026 FIFA World Cup. She previously served as an assistant referee during the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, officiated at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris and worked matches during the FIFA Club World Cup in 2025. She was also named U.S. Soccer’s 2025 Female Referee of the Year.
Before becoming an international referee, Mayo played women’s soccer at Tennessee Technological University from 2007 to 2010 while earning a degree in exercise science. She later earned recognition as Tech’s 2011 NCAA Woman of the Year. She also holds a M.S. in Leisure & Sport Management from Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU).
Mayo spent 10 years coaching soccer at Stewarts Creek High School in Smyrna and now lives in Colorado, where she plans to return to work in K-12 education as a middle school P.E. teacher.
Brooke Mayo Age
American assistant referee Brooke Mayo was born in 1989 in Garland, Texas. She is 37 years old.
FIFA World Cup 2026
Brooke Mayo has been selected as an assistant referee for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Mayo told NewsChannel 5 she learned the news while receiving a phone call from fellow referees and longtime officiating partners Tori Penso and Kathryn Nesbitt.
Mayo will be an assistant referee for the match between Czech Republic and South Africa, becoming the first publicly out gay official at a men’s FIFA World Cup. Assigned as referee is Tori Penso, who will become the first woman from the U.S. to take charge of a men’s World Cup match. The all-American crew will also have Kathryn Nesbitt as an assistant referee.
LGBTQ+ Community
Assistant referee Brooke Mayo is gay. In 2024, Mayo authored a blog for the website of the National Intercollegiate Soccer Official Association (NISOA). “As a member of the LGBTQ+ community, I would like to share a message with you as we wrap up Pride month,” she wrote.
“Growing up in the South was not easy, and I have always struggled with the delicate balance of authenticity versus safety,” she wrote. “Many people ask me why I moved states, and I love to say, “for the mountains”, but the sad truth is, I moved due to genuine concerns of my family’s safety.
Mayo’s Instagram handle is @brookemayo.13.
