Desislava Bozhilova to referee the 2025 World Snooker Championship final at the Crucible Theatre

Bozhilova is set to officiate snooker’s biggest fixture for the first time in her career. She will become only the second woman in history to referee the World Snooker Championship final, following in the footsteps of trailblazer Michaela Tabb who oversaw the 2009 and 2012 world finals which were won by John Higgins and Ronnie O’Sullivan respectively.

Born in Sliven, Bulgaria, 32-year-old Bozhilova has enjoyed a rapid rise up the professional refereeing ranks since passing her international exams in 2012, and is now one of the most familiar faces on the World Snooker Tour.

Having initially been interested in officiating after watching snooker on television, Bozhilova made her debut on the professional circuit on home soil at the 2012 Bulgarian Open. Just four years later, she took charge of her maiden ranking event final at the 2016 Riga Masters in Latvia.

A holder of a Masters degree in Landscape Architecture, Bozhilova has refereed a plethora of big finals since then, including the memorable 2019 Champion of Champions title decider between Judd Trump and Neil Robertson.

Earlier in the same year, Bozhilova refereed at the Crucible Theatre for the first time during the World Championship, and has returned to work on snooker’s grandest stage several times since.

In 2022, Bozhilova took another big step in her refereeing career as she officiated both the Masters and UK Championship finals - the second woman to referee a Triple Crown event final after Tabb. She also officiated within the one-table set-up at the Crucible during the semi-finals stage.

To date, Bozhilova has overseen six maximum 147 breaks on the professional tour, two of these came within a matter of days at the Alexandra Palace in London at the 2024 Masters.

Away from the green baize, Bozhilova has also officiated 9-ball pool on the World Nineball Tour, and refereed the 2023 World Championship final in Kielce, Poland that was won by Spain’s Francisco Sanchez Ruiz.

In refereeing the World Championship final, it means that Bozhilova will be the first woman to have officiated all three Triple Crown finals.

Responding to the news, Bozhilova told the World Snooker Tour: "It is what I have worked towards for many years, it has been my dream. It will be different to any other final because of the atmosphere at the Crucible.

"Since I started working in snooker I have learned everything from the more experienced referees. They give advice and tell us how to improve. There is a lot of team work and we support each other."

The 2025 World Snooker Championship final will take place on Sunday 4th May and Monday 5th May.