Night was approaching when Edina Alves and Neuza Back arrived at the Bolao athletic track in Jundiai, last Saturday. Ahead of them, they would have one of the biggest tests of their lives: the FIFA fitness test to referee at the Club World Cup in Qatar. But the Brazilian duo already got used to breaking barriers. This would be just another challenge.
After more than an hour of intense tests, the two found themselves at the center of the athletics track, tired and full of pride. Any doubts would end there: they will be the first women to referee a men's adult game in a FIFA competition. Pioneers, Edina and Neuza will represent their dreams and that of so many other women, being aware of the responsibility they carry and the trust placed in them.
"It is the biggest challenge of our career. It is the first time that there will be women at an adult men’s event; we need to go there and correspond so that this door stays open. Edina and I always asked to go to international men's competitions. Now this opportunity is coming. We needed to pass the fitness test and, now that we passed it, we can celebrate that we are going", reinforced Neuza. With this mixed feeling of pride and responsibility, the pair, who belong to the international referees of CBF, will go to Qatar to make history. After all, this is another page in the history of football that is about to be written by a Brazilian. "I am very happy to be able to represent our country, Brazil, in FIFA and CONMEBOL events and I want to do a good job. Because we always had great referees in ionternational competitions and I don't want to disappoint them or my family", said Edina.
The call
About 10 days ago, Edina and Neuza, who live in Jundiai, returned together from another training. Neuza was driving when she received a call from Leonardo Gaciba, chairman of the Brazilian Referees Committee, with an important message. "He called and said: 'Are you driving?'. I said ‘yes’ and he told me to pull over. That's when he said: 'you were invited to go to the Club World Cup'. … Cool. I hung up the phone and asked Edina if we were really going to the Club World Cup. She said yes, we got out of the car, she gave me a hug and we jumped", said the assistant referee. From the announcement onwards, Edina and Neuza started the preparation. Amid games of the Brazilian Championship, the two started even heavier training, keeping an eye on the fitness test that would come to confirm their participation in the World Cup. The circuit, which included tests of agility, change of direction, speed and endurance, was repeated to exhaustion in the days before the race. "Everything is adaptation and training. It is the same as a player. When he wants to be a free kick taker, how many times will he train to have this skill, get there and know how to hit the ball? You have to come to the track to train, adapt to breathing, which needs very good control, the mental one too", said Edina.
The tests
With skies closed by rain in the last days in Jundiai, the athletic track was still a little humid. But nothing could stop their dream. The first to take the test was Neuza Back. After a few minutes of warm-up, the assistant referee was ready to secure her place at the Club World Cup. The test started with short runs, changing directions. Then, medium runs, with the assistant referee always beating the time. At each end of the first test, Neuza rested to the sounds of Edina's screams: "Good, Neuza! Come on!" They were together for one dream. And it was at this pace, with this motivation, that the assistant referee finished the endurance run, with 10 laps at different speeds on the track, and beat all the necessary times. "The hardest part is cheering for the teammate to pass as well. Since we are a team, if one fails, it compromises everyone's work. Besides you doing your part, you are cheering and agonize to see your partner passing too", revealed Neuza. Then the two switched roles and it was Neuza's turn to cheer for Edina. Concentrated, the referee made the circuit of lateral movement, the sprints and, later, the resistance run. Each time she accelerated, Edina showed in her steady stride her determination to reach Qatar. In the last few laps, the referee also gained an important ally. In the final meters of the run, even after performing her own run, Neuza started running alongside her, as an incentive. And whenever she saw her go one more distance, she would say "You are the strongest woman I know. You have a lot of strength!" It was on this footprint that Edina finished the run and confirmed the fulfillment of a dream for both: they will be at the Club World Cup.
The Club World Cup
Appointed by FIFA to compose one of the seven trios at the 2020 Club World Cup in Qatar, Edina Alves and Neuza Back will work alongside Argentine Mariana Almeida. They will travel to the competition in late January. The tournament will be played in the first two weeks of February and will have a Brazilian representative, Santos or Palmeiras, who face each other in the Libertadores final. FIFA had already appointed women referees to work at the U-17 World Cup in 2017, in India, and in 2019, in Brazil. But this will be the first time that a woman will referee a professional match in a FIFA tournament. "I thank those who are in charge of CBF, Leonardo Gaciba and President Rogerio Caboclo, who always open the doors and give opportunities to us. They don't think about the genre, but about the capacity. I just wanted to work on a Brazilian Serie A game. I spent my entire career telling this to my friends and the people who knew me. Sometimes, I thought I was asking for the wrong thing, because I got to flag, to be fourth referee and additional in Serie A. I realized that dream in 2019 and, after that, my life changed ", revealed Edina. In addition to people's trust, Edina’s and Neuza's achievements are the result of a lot of sweat and competence. In this way, when opportunities appeared, they deserved more and more opportunities. That was how the duo's dream became more than reality. It became history. "Thank God, things have been happening, but we have worked hard for that. I have a 22-year career, formed 20 years ago and it is not easy. We have fallen and we have risen, but we never gave up. Just like others created this opportunity for us, and we are following them, we will leave the door open for the next ones to follow too", concluded the referee.
Source: Esporte Jundiai