The refereeing team for Saturday's MLS Cup final between the Columbus Crew and the Seattle Sounders (8:30 pm ET | TV & streaming) is set, with Jair Marrufo taking charge of his third MLS Cup final. He will be joined by 2020 Assistant Referee of the Year Kathryn Nesbitt, who will become the first woman to referee a championship match in professional men's sports in North America.
The occasion caps off a successful 2020 for Nesbitt, in which she became the first woman to win MLS' top honor for assistant referees and the first woman to win a refereeing award in North America's top five men's sports leagues. Nesbitt was also part of the crew that refereed the final of the MLS is Back Tournament, and on that day became the first woman to work the final of an MLS tournament.
Corey Parker will join Nesbitt as the other assistant referee at MAPFRE Stadium for his second MLS Cup final, in the same place as his first in 2015. Marrufo also worked that game, and this is his first MLS Cup final since then.
The full refereeing team for MLS Cup is below.
- REF: Jair Marrufo
- AR1: Corey Parker
- AR2: Kathryn Nesbitt
- 4TH: Alex Chilowicz
- VAR: Drew Fischer
- AVAR: Fabio Tovar
- RESERVE AR: Cory Richardson
