On June 22, the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) announced through its website and social media the referee promotions to the highest football categories: LaLiga EA Sports and Liga F. Among the lists of athletes reaching the first division was the name of Ágata López, a Lanzarote native belonging to the Technical Committee of Referees of Las Palmas, which encompasses a total of four Canary Islands: Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura, Lanzarote, and La Graciosa.
The path to the top
The referee has been dreaming of being in the elite since she was eleven years old, when she joined the Referees Committee. The year 2020 was key to getting closer to her goal: she was proposed for promotion by the FLIP Technical Committee of Referees. However, despite her great effort, an unexpected injury made her dreams vanish at that moment.
Only a few are lucky enough to reach the highest category. Ágata López, after four years in the first women's federation, colloquially known as the second division, and who currently maintains her category in the Third Men's RFEF where she has been for three seasons, achieved her biggest dream at 30 years old.
It will not be her first experience in Liga F; in previous seasons, she had some matches as a fourth official, even refereeing major teams like FC Barcelona or Real Madrid, including the Clásico.
She received the news with immense happiness, which she takes with "great enthusiasm, but also with great commitment." In turn, the newly promoted referee expresses in statements to La Voz that "this promotion fills me with pride, and I am very grateful to the RFEF for the trust placed in me and my work." The announcement caught her training, and she quickly shared it with her family and friends, whom she thanks and assures that "they have supported me throughout this journey."
Currently, thanks to this recent promotion, there are two referees from Lanzarote in the highest category: Ágata López García will be the main referee in Liga F and maintains her category in the Third Men's RFEF, while Alejandro J. Hernández Hernández, the only Spanish referee in the 2026 World Cup, will continue for the fifteenth time in LaLiga EA Sports.
Milestones in women's football
This announcement has not only been an individual victory, with this promotion for the 2026/2027 season, the Lanzarotean becomes the first female referee from Lanzarote and the province of Las Palmas to be promoted to the first division, also being a victory for Canarian football.
Women's football does not have it easy and is slowly creating its history, this 2026 World Cup has had a historic milestone for the United States. In the match from the group stage of Group A, in the South Africa vs Czech Republic match, the first all-female refereeing trio was observed: Brooke Mayo and Kathryn Nesbitt as assistants and Tori Penso as the main referee, the latter being the second woman to become a main referee in a World Cup. The first to achieve this was Stephanie Frappart in the last Qatar 2022 World Cup.
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