“Whistle” Rawda Al Mansouri steals the spotlight in the Federation Cup final

Emirati football referee, Rawda Al Mansouri, caught the spotlight while leading the match between the Hatta and Palm 365 teams, which was held the day before yesterday, at Al Maktoum Stadium at Al Nasr Club in Dubai, in the final of the Federation Cup for the 2025-2026 sports season, and ended with Palm 365 winning on penalties 4-1 (regular time 1-1), as Al Mansouri was able to come away with the match to Safety, thanks to her strength of character and rigor in making arbitration decisions.

The Football Association had assigned the management of the match to an all-female refereeing team, which included two assistant referees, Amal Jamal and Adhari Al Hammadi, along with Kholoud Al Zaabi, a fourth referee. Despite the importance and sensitivity of the match for the two teams, being the final of an important tournament that each party sought to win and claim its title, Al Mansouri managed the match capably, by making the appropriate decisions at the appropriate time.

The match witnessed a number of difficult refereeing cases, most notably the awarding of a penalty kick to the “Palm 365” team in the second half, from which the team scored the equalizing goal during the match’s regular time, before a penalty shootout was used to decide the result.

Rawda Al Mansouri’s whistle has become prominent during the recent period, which led the Football Association’s Referees Committee to assign her to officiate many important matches, whether in the ADNOC Professional League or the First Division League.

It is noteworthy that Rawda Al Mansouri is the first Emirati female football referee to referee a match in the men’s first division league, in the match between the “Gulf FC” and “Gulf United” teams in the 14th round of the 2023-2024 sports season, which is the first time in the history of the competition. She is also the first female referee to referee a match in the professional league, as she led, in June 2024, the match between Baniyas and Ajman in the final 26th round of the league.

For his part, the former international referee and arbitration expert, Abdullah Al-Ajel, confirmed that Rawda Al-Mansouri’s career in arbitration proceeds gradually in terms of assigning matches, considering that “this progression contributes to properly refining the referee and increasing his arbitration experience.” He explained that “Al-Mansouri is on the right path, as evidenced by the confidence of the referees’ committee in the Football Association in entrusting the management of this match to her.”

Al-Ajel told Emirates Today: “Managing a final match with a female refereeing team in an important tournament like the Federation Cup is an important event, even though it brought together a first-class team, Hatta, and a second-class team, Palm 365.”

Regarding the penalty kick awarded in favor of Palm 365, Al-Ajel confirmed that it “was correct and came at the direction of the assistant referee, Amal Gamal, which indicates good communication between the refereeing team,” describing it as “one of the decisions that affected the outcome of the match.”

Abdullah Al-Ajel:

• The penalty kick awarded to the “Palm 365” team was correct, and came at the direction of the assistant referee, Amal Gamal.

• Rawda Al Mansouri is on the right track, as evidenced by the referees’ committee’s confidence in entrusting her with managing the final match.