“We are very happy that with Stephanie Frappart from France, Salima Mukansanga from Rwanda and Yoshimi Yamashita from Japan, as well as assistant referees Neuza Back from Brazil, Karen Diaz Medina from Mexico and Kathryn Nesbitt from the USA, we have been able to call up female match officials for the first time in the history of a FIFA World Cup,” the chairman of the FIFA Referees Committee, Pierluigi Collina, said.
The process to groom top-notch female referees for FIFA matches started several years ago in a bid to bring more diversity to the conventionally-male event. FIFA invited women referees to officiate at FIFA junior and senior championships before moving on to more prominent tournaments, such as the Africa Cup of Nations, UEFA Champions League and the 2020 Summer Olympics.
One of the selected female referees, Stephanie Frappart, has been on the FIFA international referees list since 2009 and has repeatedly made history as the first woman to referee in the Champions League, the World Cup Qualifiers and the Coupe de France finals.
A total of 36 referees and 69 assistant referees were picked for the 2022 World Cup through a rigorous selection process that started in 2019. Now that the names of the match officials who will referee in Qatar are known, the football experts will take part in seminars and practical training sessions to hone their skills and attune to different “player and team mentalities”.
FIFA World Cup will take place from 21 November to 18 December in Doha.