An eight-time referee-of-the-year in the women's W-League, she was one of 11 officials named on the A-League's referees panel.

"Kate is without doubt one of the leading referees in the world at any level and we congratulate her on the appointment to the A-League referees panel," said Football Federation Australia President Mr. Chris Nikou.

The three-day workshop conducted by AFC experts and the British Council was a follow up from an evaluation from last February that saw the successful instructors continuing the programme, which is the first of its kind in the world wide refereeing community.

The programme emphasises quality over quantity and provides educators with the highest possible professional work environment.

Twelve Asian officials have been appointed for the tournament, with the contingent led by referees Khamis Al Marri from Qatar, Australia's Chris Beath and China PR's Ma Ning.

Led by International Football Association Board (IFAB) Technical Director, David Elleray, and AFC VAR technical experts Ali Al Traifi, Subkhiddin Mohd Salleh, Farkhad Abdullaev and Hakan Anaz, the five-day course included match analysis of more than 20 matches.

Simultaneously, an additional team of VARs worked with a surrogate referee to reinforce the importance of communications, teamwork, the line of intervention as well as VAR protocol and procedures.

This will be the first time three female referees officiate in the Asian Football Confederation’s (AFC) club competitions, marking a new milestone in Asian refereeing.

The trio had to pass a demanding fitness test, matching the requirements for men officials before being selected and their appointment is a timely boost, as they are also part of 12 Asian match officials representing the AFC at the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup France in June.

The highly-productive five-day course was aimed at identifying talented video assistant referees in Asia and also to expand the current pool of licensed officials, which benefitted 32 elite referees, both theoretically and practically.

The participants dived into the protocol and practicalities of VAR, followed by back-to-back practical sessions at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil, where the referees and video assistant referees assessed live match incidents on a mobile VAR station.

The three-day seminar, which saw the participation of 14 men and five women instructors, was aimed at enhancing the quality of refereeing fitness education and training programmes across Asia as well as to increase the number of qualified fitness experts.

Ahead of the event, Member Associations were invited to nominate candidates in accordance to a stringent criteria defined to continue raising the standards of refereeing in the Continent.