For the first time in history, female referees will take officiate at the major men’s tournament, the FIFA World Cup, which takes place in Qatar.
Three female referees and three female assistant referees were announced by FIFA among 129 officials selected for World Cup duty.
For the first time, women have been included in the list of referees for a men’s World Cup, led by Stéphanie Frappart of France. Included from USA: referee Ismail Elfath, assistant referees Kathryn Nesbitt, Kyle Atkins & Corey Parker and VAR Armando Villarreal. pic.twitter.com/gxTwahQhxF
— Grant Wahl (@GrantWahl) May 19, 2022
France’s Stéphanie Frappart has already taken charge of men’s games in World Cup qualifying and the Champions League. She was also in charge of the 2019 Women’s World Cup final. Now Frapport will get the chance to referee at the Men’s FIFA World Cup. also refereed the final of the men’s French Cup this month.
In little over a year, Stephanie Frappart became the first woman to officiate in:-
– Ligue 1
– UEFA Super Cup
– Men’s #UCLShe officiated in the Europa League too this season. https://t.co/xchO0DtzgV
— Rohith Nair (@RohithNair) December 2, 2020
Joinning Frappart on the list is Salima Mukansanga of Rwanda and Yoshimi Yamashita of Japan.
Out of the 69 assistant referees included, three women, Neuza Back of Brazil, Karen Díaz Medina of Mexico and Kathryn Nesbitt of the United States make the shortlist.
“As always, the criteria we have used is quality first and the selected match officials represent the highest level of refereeing worldwide,” said Fifa referees committee chairman Pierluigi Collina, who oversaw the 2002 World Cup final. “In this way, we clearly emphasise that it is quality that counts for us and not gender.
“I would hope that in the future the selection of elite women’s match officials for important men’s competitions will be perceived as something normal and no longer as sensational.”
The officials alongside their other World Cup-bound colleagues, will attend seminars in preparation for the 32-team event.