Saadieh tells Al Jazeera what she loves about refereeing, the challenges she’s overcome, and what it means to officiate in the 2023 Women’s World Cup. action during the 2020 AFC Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament soccer match between Myanmar and Bangladesh

The 34-year-old of Palestinian heritage grew up in Syria. In 2010, while studying sports education at university, she saw that no women were taking part in refereeing training, so she decided to give it a go.

She moved to Malaysia in 2012 after the Syrian war broke out and began refereeing there. She moved with her family to Sweden in late 2016 as part of a United Nations resettlement programme and now referees in the top flight of Sweden’s women’s league and in the second tier of the men’s league.

She has officiated in Women’s AFC Cup and Asian Cup matches, World Cup qualifiers, and games at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Saadieh has also worked with the Palestinian Football Association.