JAKARTA - Sapir Berman made sports history when he officiated at the Israeli Premier League football match for the first time after announcing that he was transgender.
"This is the first step in a long and beautiful journey. Sapir, we are proud to do it with you," said the Israel Football Association, when Berman was the referee for the Beitar Jerusalem vs Hapoel Haifa match.
At a press conference last Tuesday in which he publicly announced his gender switchover, Berman, 26, who is already the top referee in Israel's leading soccer league, said he always saw himself as a woman, even at a young age.
He said that players have started using the feminine form of the word in Hebrew when addressing him.
"They really feel like taking part in this process and are even talking to men if it is inappropriate and talking to me as a woman. Thank you," said Berman.
Outside the stadium in the northern city of Haifa, a fan carried a banner praising Berman as a "super, extraordinary, brave woman."
Berman is not football's first transgender referee. A British soccer referee, Lucy Clark, announced the transition of her gender status in 2018.
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