Tori Penso (Referee) Wiki, Age, Husband, Salary, Height, Stats

Tori Penso Biography – Tori Penso Wiki

Tori Penso is an American soccer referee. She made her refereeing debut at 14. Penso has been a FIFA referee since 2013, officiating games in Major League Soccer and the National Women’s Soccer League. She was one of the US referees at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup in New Zealand and Australia. The Florida native is set to officiate at the FIFA World Cup 2026.

Referee Career Beginnings

Tori Penso was 10 years old when her mother allowed her to play football for the first time. Her family also played a role in her initially picking up a whistle. “My brothers refereed in local leagues in Stuart, Florida, where I was born and grew up,” she told FIFA.com. “When I was 14, I told my mum I’d like to start earning some money for myself, and she replied, ‘You can do it on the pitches where you spend so much time already’. And so I started reffing matches for money – both boys’ and girls’ games.”

When she was 18, not only was she able to buy her first car with what she had earned from her refereeing work, but her abilities earned her an invitation to a refereeing camp run by the Olympic Development Program in Texas. At the time, she was playing football while studying for a university degree in marketing, but she did not yet view refereeing as a potential job. Prior to deciding to give up her job in an advertising agency in favour of refereeing, Tori met Chris Penso, also a referee, to whom she would eventually get married and with whom she would have three daughters.

Trailblazer

In 2019, Penso decided to make a profession out of her hobby and began to hit significant milestones in her new career. In September 2020, she became the first woman to referee an MLS match in over 20 years. The following year, she made history again, but at the continental level this time: in addition to being the first woman to referee and lead an all-female officiating team in a Concacaf-run men’s competition, in June she became the first woman to referee a FIFA World Cup qualifying match.

In 2022, Penso took charge of five FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup matches in Costa Rica, including one of the semi-finals. She went on to officiate at the FIFA World Cup Australia & New Zealand 2023. She refereed the final of the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2023, between Spain and England on August 20, 2023, in Sydney, Australia.

Penso also officiated at the 2024 Olympics in France. In 2025, she was one of 35 referees to work the FIFA Club World Cup. She is set to make history as the first American woman to oversee a men’s World Cup match at the FIFA World Cup 2026.

FIFA World Cup 2026

Florida native Tori Penso is set to become the first American woman to be the head referee in a men’s World Cup match at the upcoming FIFA World Cup 2026. While Penso will be the first American woman to work as the head referee on a men’s World Cup game, Kathryn Nesbitt was the first to work a men’s World Cup match in an official capacity, serving as an assistant referee in Qatar in 2022. Nesbitt will also be an assistant referee in this World Cup. In 2022, France’s Stéphanie Frappart became the first woman to referee a men’s World Cup match.

The FIFA Team One cohort includes 52 referees, 88 assistant referees and 30 video match officials, who hail from all six confederations and 50 Member Associations, in what is the most comprehensive line-up of match officials in FIFA World Cup™ history. The appointments were made on the basis of FIFA’s long-standing “quality first” principle, while consideration was given to the consistency of the performances delivered by candidates at FIFA tournaments, as well as in international and domestic competitions in recent years.

Tori Penso Age

She was born Mary Victoria Hancock on July 8, 1986, in Stuart, Florida, United States. She is 39 years old.

Tori Penso Husband

Referee Tori Penso is married to her husband, Chris Penso, also a professional referee. He has worked professional matches since 2009 in the Major League Soccer (MLS) and various international competitions. The couple met at Florida State University.

Tori Penso Family

FIFA referee Tori Penso and her husband, Chris Penso, have three daughters.

Salary

At the 2023 Women’s World Cup, the tournament’s managerial body set a $70,000 basic pay for match referees. A match referee is paid $3,000 for the group stage and $10,000 for the playoffs or final, as per the publication as. A referee who officiates all competitions, including the final, can earn up to $300,000.

Tori Penso Height

US referee Tori Penso is 6-foot-tall.