Sarah Thomas is set to make history by becoming the first woman to officiate at a Super Bowl.
The announcement that Thomas, 47, will be the down judge was made on Tuesday (January 19) by the National Football League. The referee group will be headed by referee Carl Cheffers.
Per the Independent, the NFL's executive vice-president of football operations Troy Vincent said:
"Sarah Thomas has made history again as the first female Super Bowl official.
"Her elite performance and commitment to excellence has earned her the right to officiate the Super Bowl. Congratulations to Sarah on this well-deserved honor."
However, this is not the first landmark moment in the 47-year-old's career, as she was also the first woman to officiate in a major college football game and a college bowl game prior to being hired in 2015 as the NFL's first female official.
The Independent added that Cheffers, who is a veteran of 21 NFL seasons, will referee his second Super Bowl having first overseen the New England Patriots' 34-28 win over the Atlanta Falcons in Super Bowl LI in 2017.
Sunday's Conference Championships will decide the two teams for this year's contest.
Thomas spent time in the New Orleans Saints’ and Indianapolis Colts' training camps before becoming the NFL's first permanent official in 2015, per the Guardian.
She said that her interest in football was first sparked in 1996 when she accompanied her brother to a Gulf Coast Football Officials Association meeting.
Discussing how she got involved in football, Thomas said: "I got involved in officiating football because I was intrigued when these guys took it seriously," she told ABC’s Good Morning America in 2013.
"But then I was more challenged at, 'Hey, I really don’t know the game of football,' and, being a competitor, I really wanted to see, 'Hey, what’s in store with this?'"