An Israeli football referee came out on Tuesday as a transgender woman during a news conference held at the Ramat Gan Stadium.
Supported by Israel's Football Association, 26-year-old Sapir Berman, told the packed press room, "I always saw myself as a woman from a young age."
But Berman admitted she struggled prior to her gender reassignment and lived a life of "divided worlds" - one being her outside appearance as a man and the other her inner desire to be a woman.
Berman said she has support from her family and Israel's referees union, the IFA, at a time when LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and those questioning sexual identity) people are achieving higher profiles and acceptance in some parts of the world.
Berman established herself as a referee in the country's highest soccer division, the Israeli Premier League, before she felt the courage to go public about her gender identity.
