French referee Stéphanie Frappart will lead the first all-female officiating team in a men’s World Cup match. This is a first in the history of FIFA that women have been selected to officiate at the World Cup. FIFA has announced that Frappart is set to take charge of the Costa Rica vs Germany Group E match on Thursday, 1 December 2022, evening at 9pm (SA time).
Neuza Back of Brazil and Mexico’s Karen Diaz Medina have been selected to be Frappart’s assistants and that completes the first all-female on-field refereeing team.
“The men’s World Cup is the most important sporting competition in the world. I was the first referee in France and in Europe, so I know how to deal with it,” Frappart said on FIFA’s website. Only three women, Frappart, Yamashita Yoshimi from Japan and Rwanda’s Salima Mukansanga have been selected for the tournament among the 36 referees.
They are also joined by Back, Medina and American Kathryn Nesbitt who are headed to the World Cup as three of 69 assistant referees. Before the World Cup, Pierluigi Collina, chairman of the FIFA Referees Committee, said of the three women referees at the World Cup: “They were not selected because they are women, but as FIFA referees. They could officiate any game.”
It will however not be the first time the 38-year-old French referee has written her name into football history.
Frappart was also the first woman to referee a Ligue 1 and UEFA Champions League game and she also became the first female to officiate at a men’s World Cup qualifier in March.
The 38-year-old Frappart won the International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS) World’s Best Woman Referee three times in her career in 2019, 2020, and 2021. She has been listed as FIFA referee since 2009, the same year she made her debut in the French Ligue 1.
Meanwhile a look at what’s happening on the field of play. eams are now eyeing to book their spot in the last 16 of the tournament, a build up to the match that will be officiated by an all- woman team, Germany are sitting at the bottom of the group, and anything less than a win would send them packing.
Costa Rica on the other hand are sitting third with three points and a win would definitely send them to the round of 16, while a draw could possibly be enough if Spain beat Japan.
