They will be among the 105 referees for the next World Cup in Qatar for the first time, FIFA announced on Thursday. Three of them, including the French Stéphanie Frappart, will be field referees.
It is therefore on the occasion of a World Cup organized in a country where women’s rights are restricted that the FIFA arbitration committee proposes, for the first time, a female contingent in its list of 105 referees dedicated to lead the next Men’s World Cup (November 21 to December 18, 2022). Three of them – the French Stéphanie Frappart, the Rwandan Salima Mukansanga and the Japanese Yoshimi Yamashita – were appointed among the 36 field referees. Brazilian Neuza Back, Mexican Karen Diaz Medina and American Kathryn Nesbitt will officiate alongside the 66 other assistant referees.
“We are delighted to count them […] in the contingent of referees […]. Their appointment is the result of a long process that began several years ago, which began with the appointment of female referees for certain FIFA senior and youth men’s competitions.underlines Pierluigi Collina, the president of the Commission of the referees of the world body.
The six selected “have been chaining high-flying performances for several years”insists the Italian. “As always, the criteria we have used is quality first and the referees selected represent the highest level of refereeing in the world”continues Pierluigi Collina, who refereed the 2002 World Cup final. “In this way, we want to demonstrate that the quality of refereeing has nothing to do with gender,” says the one who hopes “that in the future, the presence of female referees in top-level men’s competitions (will) be considered the rule rather than the exception”.
Frappart already has a great career
At the age of 38, Stéphanie Frappart takes another step forward, she who was already the first woman to officiate in the French second division (2014), in the men’s Ligue 1 (2019), in the European Supercup (August 2019), in Champions League (December 2020), at Euro 2021, and in the Coupe de France final on May 7.
Besides Stéphanie Frappart, other French referees will travel to Qatar, including Clément Turpin, who will lead the Champions League final between Liverpool and Real Madrid on May 28 at the Stade de France, also as main referee. . Cyril Gringore and Nicolas Danos will also go, as assistants. Benoit Millot and Jérôme Brisart are listed for video assistance.
For all the referees appointed within the six confederations, in addition to the 24 video assistant referees, the preparation for the 64 matches of the tournament will start at the beginning of the summer “through seminars in Asunción, Madrid and Doha”. It will focus in particular on “player protection”, “uniformity” in the application of the rules, as well as “understanding the characteristics of teams and players”. “There are bound to be mistakes”warns Massimo Busacca, director of FIFA’s refereeing sub-division, “but we are going to do everything so that there are as few as possible”.