Sian Massey-Ellis has retired from officiating to take up a senior role at the Football Association, ending a career that took her from the Premier League touchline to the FA Cup final and into the record books of the European game (BBC Sport).

She moves into a senior manager position at the FA focused on supporting and developing female officials. In announcing the switch, Massey-Ellis made clear the career change is not a departure from the sport. "Although I am stepping away from the touchline, I am not stepping away from football," she said (BBC Sport).

Her on-field résumé is stacked with firsts. She rose to the Premier League as an assistant referee — the official who runs the touchline, flagging offsides and helping the referee with decisions close to the line — in 2010, becoming only the second woman to reach that level in the English men's top flight (BBC Sport). She went on to officiate in more than 150 Premier League matches.

She became the first Englishwoman to officiate in a men's European fixture, and the first woman to officiate in a men's FA Cup final — the showpiece occasion of the English domestic season, held every May at Wembley (BBC Sport). She was also involved in five Women's FA Cup finals across her career.

In 2016, she was awarded an MBE in recognition of her contribution to officiating (The FA).

For the casual fan who only notices the assistant referee when the flag goes up for offside, Massey-Ellis was the one whose decisions held up under scrutiny weekend after weekend — the kind of consistency that earns trust from players, managers, and supporters alike, even when they disagree with the call. Her presence on the line at the highest level of the men's game became so routine that it was easy to forget she was operating in territory no woman had worked in before.

Now she turns to the next generation. Her new role at the FA will see her shape pathways for female officials coming through the ranks — the very pipeline that produced her own career. The woman who spent sixteen years on the touchline will spend the next chapter making sure others get the same chance to run it.