Rita Binti Gani (born 11 May 1977 in

Sabah Sabah () is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia located in northern Borneo, in the region of East Malaysia. Sabah borders the Malaysian state of Sarawak to the southwest and the North Kalimantan province of Indone ...

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

) is a

Malaysian Malaysian may refer to: * Something from or related to Malaysia, a country in Southeast Asia * Malaysian Malay, a dialect of Malay language spoken mainly in Malaysia * Malaysian people, people who are identified with the country of Malaysia regard ...

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

referee A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other titl ...

. A corporal in the

Royal Malaysia Police The Royal Malaysia Police (often abbreviated RMP) ( ms, Polis Diraja Malaysia (PDRM)), is a (primarily) uniformed national and federal police force in Malaysia. The force is a centralised organisation. Its headquarters are located at Bukit Aman ...

force, she began officiating in 2004 and was added to the FIFA international list of referees in 2006. She was voted the AFC Woman Referee of the Year in 2014 after officiating six matches in the

2014 AFC Women's Asian Cup The 2014 AFC Women's Asian Cup, the 18th edition of the competition, was a women's association football tournament competed by national teams in Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It served as the qualification for the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cu ...

in Vietnam including the semi-final between Australia and South Korea. Gani was selected to referee in the

2015 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup was the seventh FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international soccer championship contested by the women's national teams of the member associations of FIFA. The tournament was hosted by Canada for the ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

alongside fellow Malaysian Widiya Shamsuri, and took charge for the Group C match between Switzerland and Ecuador on 12 June 2015. Rita win Asia Best Female Referee Awards 2014 in conjunction with the

Asian Football Confederation The Asian Football Confederation is the governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal in some countries/territories in Asia and Oceania. It has 47 member countries most of which are located in Asia. Australia, formerly in ...

(AFC) in the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

. She also managed to overcome last year's winners, Sachiko Yamagishi of Japan and candidates from Thailand,

Pannipar Kamnueng Pannipar Kamnueng ( th, พัณณิภา คำนึง, born January 22, 1976) is a Thai former football referee (association football), referee. She first refereed internationally at the 2004 FIFA U-19 Women's World Championship before g ...

References

Living people 1977 births Malaysian football referees People from Sabah Malaysian police officers FIFA Women's World Cup referees Women association football referees {{Malaysia-women-footy-bio-stub