Emanuela Rusta, the first woman to referee in her native Albania's top division and the first Albanian international referee, was assigned the match between Sporting Lisbon and Real Madrid in the Women's Champions League on Thursday, marking her progress to the top of the sport.

But the 30-year-old had other things on her mind before the game, deleting her Instagram account after a slew of sexist messages regarding her appearance. Rusta has been labeled the "sexy ref" in various media headlines and received misogynist messages on the social media platform as a result.

"They should focus more on my professionalism than on other things," she told the AFP news agency. "You have to fight hard to be accepted. You have to blow the glass ceiling to pieces.

"Refereeing is not a question of gender, but of competence. To make good decisions, you need to know the rules of the game perfectly but also to be physically fit and have a great ability to concentrate."

'We should be notable by our achievements and not by our gender'

It is only in the last decade that female referees have found a place at the top level of men's football, though they are the norm in the women's game. One of the pioneers was German official Bibiana Steinhaus-Webb. She became the first woman to referee a match in one of Europe's top five leagues when she took charge of a Bundesliga match in 2017. Speaking to DW at the time, she echoed Rusta's recent sentiments.

"At the end of the day, the performance is what matters," she said. "And the person producing the best performance should be the person on the pitch, no matter what gender, what hair color, what religion. That's all that counts."

Steinhaus-Webb retired from the job in 2020, with Stephanie Frappart now the leading female referee. She made history by becoming the first woman to referee at a men's World Cup in Qatar 2022and said, "I have always promoted the idea that we should be notable by our achievements and not by our gender."

Rusta's decision, however, highlights the distance football has to go in its battle against sexism. Women's football has made great strides in recent years, with sold out stadiums and increased broadcasting deals increasingly commonplace. Nevertheless, women on the field — players, coaches and referees — are still often judged on their appearance.

Body image

England international Fran Kirby was filmed in a training session admitting she kept her jumper on because she gets called overweight.

"I do believe it has become more noticeable that people are getting comments about their weight and how they look on TV or how they look in pictures," the European champion said earlier this year. "That shouldn't matter, what body type you are, how you look in your dress, how you look in a kit."

While Rusta's shutting down of her Instagram is an indictment of the slow progress in eliminating sexism and misogyny in football, she remains hopeful for the future.

"I hope that the day is not far off when there are four women refereeing a match in the top men's category," she added. "Although it is apparently a predominantly male environment, I feel respected and appreciated for the work I do on the field."