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Stephanie Frappa (centre) has already become the first female referee in the history of the men’s World Cup.
On Thursday (December 1), the finals group match of the Qatar 2022 World Cup between Costa Rica and Germany will be the first men’s World Cup match in history to be enforced by an all-female umpiring team.
Stephanie Frappart will also be the first female referee in the history of the men’s World Cup.
The Frenchwoman has already taken the lead by becoming the first female referee at the men’s World Cup. You were appointed fourth referee (i.e. the fourth person after the referee and the two linesmen) in the match between Mexico and Poland last Tuesday (November 22nd).
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As a female referee, Frappa made history in this World Cup.
“But I don’t think we’re going to change who we are. Calm, focused, focused, don’t think too much about the media or anything, just focus on the pitch.”
Together with Frappa at the Al Bayt stadium on Thursday there will be the assistant referees of the match, the Brazilian Neuza Back and the Mexican Karen Diaz Medina (Karen Diaz Medina).
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Brazilian Noiza Baker will act as assistant referee for Thursday’s match.
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Another assistant referee is Mexican Karen Diaz Medina.
Asked if she has ever been judged by players, coaches or fans to be female, Frappa said: “I’ve had the support of teams, clubs and players since I started doing this job. I’ve always been on the pitch. Everyone is welcome, so I feel like I’m just another referee on the pitch. It was like that before, so I feel like I’m going to become as popular as I was.”
Already in 2020, Frappa became the first female referee of a men’s match in the UEFA Champions League.
At the age of 38, she also refereed the 2019 UEFA Super Cup match between Liverpool (Liverpool) and Chelsea (Chelsea). At the time, she was the first woman to serve as a referee in a major European men’s soccer match.
There are 36 referees at the World Cup in Qatar, and three of them are women – in addition to Frapa, Salima Mukansanga from Rwanda and Yoshimi Yamashita from Japan.
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Rwandan referee Salima Mukansanga (right)
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Try Japanese Yoshimi Yamashita
