From the 4th round of the current Turkmenistan Football Championship, Kristina Berseneva will work as the first female referee in the history of Turkmen football. According to the FFT press service, Kristina will begin to perform the functions of a reserve referee at matches of the Higher League and the Turkmenistan Cup. Berseneva has already taken the first steps in this direction, acting as an assistant to reserve referee Mergen Allaberdiyev at the match of the 21st round of the Turkmenistan Championship between "Ahal" and "Merv" (2:0).

Kristina Berseneva, who previously played for the national football and futsal teams of Turkmenistan, began her refereeing career just two years ago. After successfully passing exams and gaining experience as an assistant referee, she will now be officially involved as a referee at the country's largest tournaments. Her journey in football began at the age of 14 in the Mary velayat under the leadership of Murad Bayramov, and her return to the sport in 2018 was made possible thanks to the efforts of Kamil Mingazov, head coach of the women's national team of Turkmenistan.

In international practice, female referees have already achieved significant achievements: for example, in Germany, Bibiana Steinhaus refereed Bundesliga matches from 2017 to 2020, and at the World Cup in Qatar in 2022, for the first time in the history of the men's World Cup, an exclusively female team of referees worked. FIFA actively supports the participation of women in refereeing men's matches, and the appointment of Kristina Berseneva to key matches in Turkmenistan is another step towards inclusiveness and equality in sports refereeing.