Henrikke Holm Nervik, 38, from Trondheim, is now the woman with the most matches as a main referee in Norwegian top-level football. The Football Association of Norway credits her with 245 games. On Sunday she passed Vibeke Karlsen’s 2011 mark of 242. She says she did not know she had crossed it.

She took a refereeing course at 16. “Dad was a referee. I wanted to be like him.” She grew up in Ranheim. Her father, Egil Nervik, has 73 Eliteserien matches in NFF’s tables. Alongside top-level officiating she has two daughters, nearly three and ten, and a full-time job. She travels to matches every weekend. She is also a FIFA referee, so she works abroad as well.

“I do this because football is huge fun. Even if I am not a player, I still contribute.” She will keep going as long as it stays fun. NFF refereeing chief Terje Hauge calls her a recent pioneer and a model for girls. In 2014 NFF had 113 women referees; today there are more than 400. Hauge is not satisfied: too many young women still quit. The association works on returning after pregnancy; 11 top women referees in the pool have children.

In 2022 Nervik was, with Emilie Rodahl Torkelsen, among the first women to take charge of a men’s second-tier (1. divisjon) match. NFF also lists 11 Eliteserien matches (2023) and 175 in the Toppserien (2011–2025), plus women’s Champions League games. She has refereed three women’s cup finals: 2013, 2017 and 2020.

On Thursday morning colleagues at her Trondheim employer marked the record with cake and speeches. She thought it was a work meeting. Mini Jakobsen sent a video: he is sure there will be a statue outside Ullevål. Colleague Kristoffer Nøbben Aalton, at TrønderTaxi, had worked out before the summer that she was closing in on the mark.

Nervik wants her daughters to see that mum can referee too. “They learn that football is not only for boys.” The record is NFF’s, for Norwegian top matches, not a world tally. She stays on the list as long as the games — and the enjoyment — last.

Image: Leonhard Lenz, Lerkendal Stadion, Trondheim, 18 August 2022, CC0, Wikimedia Commons. A stadium in her city, not the record match.

Sources consulted: Henrikke Nervik fra Trondheim er den mestdømmende kvinnelige dommeren i norsk toppfotball — NRK Trøndelag; Referee statistics — Football Association of Norway.