Cuban FIFA assistant referee Ivett Santiago is among the group of match officials appointed to the U-17 Women's World Cup in India to be held next October; it will be the first time she will participate in a FIFA World Cup. Santiago, 33, was on the official list for the U-20 World Cup in Costa Rica, but for administrative reasons the process that guaranteed her presence at the event was not completed, so she was re-assigned to the U-17 World Cup. The Cuban is on the list of FIFA candidates with options to participate in the senior Women's World Cup in 2023.
“In the process of preparing as a candidate for the 2023 Australia/New Zealand World Cup, it is common for FIFA to appoint candidates to work in the U-17 or U-20 World Cups. Participating in the U-17 World Cup in India will be a great opportunity because all the referees who will attend the event are on the list of candidates for next year's World Cup. More than an individual recognition, this appointment is a boost to female refereeing in Cuba, which has a history in our region.” She began her career as an athlete while she was studying Law at the University of Havana, and her good performances in the university games catapulted her to the professional team in the Cuban capital. While she was still playing, Ivett Santiago began taking refereeing courses and in 2015 she began to referee in the highest category of Cuban football. In 2017, she received the FIFA referee designation and in 2020 she was appointed to the U-20 Concacaf Championship, in the Dominican Republic. Currently, she shares her life between refereeing and her work as a Prosecutor in the Provincial Prosecutor's Office of Havana.
Santiago denounces the sexist discrimination in Cuba. “On many occasions, they question not only your femininity, but also your knowledge in order to apply the football laws." In 2018, Cuban referee Yanely Chavez, one of the most promising figures of women's football on the island, denounced that the Cuban federation (FCF) withdrew her FIFA badge to participate in international matches without offering any explanation, alleging “confidential” reasons. “It's been very difficult for me because that badge is so hard to get. It hurts when your own country excludes you for no apparent reason,” Chavez said in an interview with sports journalist Mayli Estevez, from the Cuban magazine Tremenda Nota. According to Estevez, no official from the Cuban federation explained to the young referee the reason for her exclusion from the FIFA list. “There is a lot of discrimination; not because I say so, but because specialists in the field have recognized it. There are female referees who work in the first division of this country, and they are much more qualified than the men. Many of them do not meet the conditions and, nevertheless, they are still there, above us, because they are men”, said referee Chavez at that time about discrimination against women in the context of Cuban football.
Source: CiberCuba