In the final stretch of her on-field officiating career, Marie-Soleil Beaudoin of Halifax has been recognized by soccer’s highest governing body.
FIFA named Beaudoin to its list of international referees for 2025. Of the 15 Canada Soccer officials selected by FIFA, Beaudoin is the longest tenured, having received her referee badge from the international football federation in 2014.
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“I feel like it wasn’t that long ago that I was a rookie,” Beaudoin said in a phone interview while en route to Costa Rica for an annual Concacaf referee seminar. “Fast forward 11 years, and now I’m the oldest standing FIFA official.”
FIFA works on a three-year cycle with their officials, a three-year process to make sure that they are technically, physically and psychologically ready to perform on football’s biggest stage. But when the federation starts its next cycle in 2027, Beaudoin won’t be reoffering.
“I was clear to FIFA that I’m at the tail end of my career and I will not make it to 2027 as an on-field match official,” the 42-year-old said. “I feel like I’m going to leave knowing the officials list is in really good shape. We have lots of really good men and women officials coming up in Canada. It’s time for them to shine on the world stage.”
Since she stopped playing competitive soccer nearly 20 years ago, Beaudoin has steadily moved up the referee ranks in this country.
This year, she will hold two international badges, one as on-field official and the other as video assistant referee.
“I’m really trying to explore that VAR role, which we don’t see yet in Canada, but it’s used in most international competitions. That’s where my career is going from an international perspective, moving from on-field to video match,” said Beaudoin, a professor of physiology and biophysics at Dalhousie who’s on sabbatical leave until next September.
“The role of VAR is actually something that suits my personality quite a bit, in the sense that I’m very analytical. I’m a scientist by training. So being involved in VAR is very much following a process, analyzing clips and doing that in a correct and quick way.
“There is an intellectual challenge in VAR that really resonates both with my scientific training as well as my referring training. I feel like in my career I’ve been able to basically check all the boxes that I wanted to. I’ve been really lucky that way. It was time for a new challenge and I enjoy new challenges.”
Born in North Vancouver and raised in Quebec City, Beaudoin graduated from McGill University with a bachelor in science, minoring in education. She then attended the University of Guelph and earned her masters in science and a PhD in nutrition, exercise and metabolism.
Beaudoin was one of four Canadian women who officiated at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. It was her second women’s World Cup after she appeared at the 2019 tournament in France.
After making a name for herself internationally, Beaudoin is turning her focus on officiating the women’s game within our borders.
The Northern Super League will become Canada’s top-division professional women’s soccer circuit when it kicks off in April. The league will consist of six teams including the Halifax Tides FC, which will play their home matches at the Wanderers Grounds.
“The main reason for me to continue as an official is mostly for domestic reasons,” Beaudoin said. “With the women’s professional league starting in Canada this April, it’s a really exciting time not just for women’s soccer, but for women’s sports.
“Right now, in Canada, there’s very limited opportunities for women officials to work in the professional game. This will be huge for everyone involved at every level of soccer in the country.”
The arrival of the Northern Super League will come exactly six years after the Canadian Premier League, the domestic men’s pro circuit, debuted.
Beaudoin made history when she officiated the Halifax Wanderers’ inaugural home opener in April 2019, becoming the first female referee to work a CPL match.
But working a game in the CPL requires peak fitness. Just like any elite athlete, referees must do a lot of preparation and training to stay in shape. Officials run at least 10 kilometres during a single game.
Beaudoin said all referees – men and women – “have to pass the men’s fitness test” to officiate in the Canadian Premier League.
“That’s one big hurdle to work in the CPL,” she said. “Not all women can do that or do that easily.
“We have a lot of really capable women officials that have not been working professionally because of that hurdle. So, to be able to referee at a professional level, like the Northern Super League, opens up so many opportunities to take the step to the next level.
“For me, it’s important to get involved in some way with this league before I fully retire.”
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