Tori Penso feels lucky that she is married to a man with the same profession as hers. Her husband, Chris Penso, is also a professional referee and has been actively working in Major League Soccer since 2011.
Despite being a referee since she was a kid, Tori had never considered it could become her profession.
However, her meeting with Chris changed her perspective, and eventually, she left her advertising agency job to become a full-time referee.
They married soon after and are now the parents of three beautiful kids.
Mary-Victoria Penso, better known as Tori Penso, is an American soccer referee who actively works in MLS, USL Championship, and the National Women’s Soccer League.
She is the first female to referee an MLS regular season match in twenty years.
In June 2021, she became the first woman to referee a men’s FIFA World Cup qualifying match between Puerto Rico and the Bahamas.
Recently, she officiated as the main referee during the 2023 Women’s World Cup final match between England and Spain on August 20, 2023.
Tori Penso Husband: Chris Penso
The American referee Chris Penso was born to his parents, Kent and Lisa Penso, on April 28, 1982, in Dover, Ohio.
His parents ran a pizza restaurant in his hometown named Penso’s Pizza. Chris spent his entire time helping his parents in the shop as a kid whenever he did not have school.
Besides, Penso has been interested in soccer since he was little. Unlike most kids who liked playing the game, Chris was keener to observe and officiate.
As a result, he began refereeing local games when he was just fifteen. In the meantime, he enrolled in Kent State University after graduating high school.
Although he never left officiating soccer matches, his interest somehow shifted while in college.
He thought he should join politics if he wanted to bring about some positive changes in his hometown, so he ran for the mayor post of Dover when he was 21.
His political ambitions were eventually crushed after losing the election by seven votes.
Chris later graduated college with a bachelor’s degree in accounting in 2004.
Refereeing Career
Chris Penso worked as a screener and highway state patrolman for Transportation Security Administration and Ohio State Highway Patrol for some years before he quit the job to start his officiating career in 2006.
He officiated his first MLS game in 2011, between San Jose Earthquakes and New York Red Bulls.
Following that, he has officiated over 200 regular season league matches. Similarly, he has worked numerous times as the fourth official and VAR in the same league.
Enlisted by FIFA in 2013, Penso served as FIFA referee until 2015.
Marriage With Tori Penso And Kids
Belonging to the same profession, the two knew each other for a long time and eventually decided to begin a conjugal life after a few years of dating.
Together, the couple is the parents of three daughters. Tori does not like revealing much about her family life to the public, so details about her daughters are unknown, except for their names: Piper Kai, Jovie Birch, and Brinley Finn.
She had recently posted a picture of her with her husband and kids, writing a lovely caption for her daughters, which read,” We all need a reason to wake up and charge through the grind, the early hours, the sweat and the tears… for me, it’s these girls.“
Meanwhile, Tori feels fortunate to find such a supportive husband as Chris. The couple currently reside with their daughters in Saint Petersburg, Florida.
