Melissa Paola Borjas Pastrana (born 20 October 1986), known as Melissa Borjas, is a Honduran

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

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 tit ...

. Borjas earned a degree in

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at Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Honduras, and has been a professional referee since 2011. Borjas, best known by the local media as Melissa Pastrana, is tall and has been on the

FIFA International Referees List The FIFA International Referees List is an annual publication of the global list of FIFA international referees in the football-variants controlled by the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) – association football (outdoor ...

since 2013. In 2015, she became the first Honduran woman to referee at the

FIFA Women's World Cup The FIFA Women's World Cup is an international association football competition contested by the senior women's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the sport's international governing bod ...

when she officiated a match between

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

and

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ' ...

. Borjas was the first female referee to officiate a match in

Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional de Honduras Liga Betcris de Honduras (''Honduran National Professional Football League'') is the highest division of football in Honduras. The league season is divided into Opening (autumn) and Closing (spring). One team is relegated to the Liga de Ascenso ...

, the top flight of men's football in the country. Borjas then became the first female official to referee a final match in Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional de Honduras when she officiated the first leg of the 2019 spring final between local teams Olimpia and

Motagua The Motagua River () is a river in Guatemala. It rises in the western highlands of Guatemala where it is also called Río Grande, and runs in an easterly direction to the Gulf of Honduras. The final few kilometres of the river form part of the G ...

on 26 May 2019. On 3 December 2018, it was announced that Borjas had been appointed to be a referee for the

2019 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup was the eighth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international Women's association football championship contested by 24 women's national teams representing member associations of FIFA. I ...

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. After the conclusion of the round of 16, FIFA announced that Borjas was selected as one of 11 referees who would be assigned to matches during the final 8 matches of the tournament. In the 2020 Olympic games she notoriously disallowed a goal from Australian Superstar Sam Kerr eliminating Australia from Gold and Silver Medal contention. This will forever be known as the Matildas “invisible foul”.

References

Living people 1986 births Honduran football referees FIFA Women's World Cup referees Women association football referees Sportspeople from Tegucigalpa Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Honduras alumni Women referees and umpires {{Honduras-women-footy-bio-stub