Three female referees and three female assistant referees will make World Cup history this year by working games at a major men’s tournament for the first time in Qatar
The FIFA Referees Committee today announced the lists with the names of the selected match officials for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.
36 referees, 69 assistant referees and 24 video match officials (VMOs) have been chosen in close cooperation with the six confederations, based on their quality and the performances delivered at FIFA tournaments as well as at other international and domestic competitions in recent years.
French referee Stephanie Frappart has already officiated men’s games in World Cup qualifying matches and the Champions League, after taking charge of the Women’s World Cup final in 2019. She also refereed the final of the men’s French cup this month.
She will be joined in Qatar by Rwandan referee Salima Mukansanga and Yoshimi Yamashita of Japan, with a total of 26 referees preparing for 64 games at the tournament, which will start on 21 November after the tournament was moved from its conventional summer slot due to the weather in Qatar.
“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 chair Pierluigi Collina, who worked the 2002 World Cup final.
For the first time in the history of the FIFA World Cup, the FIFA Referees Committee has appointed three women’s referees and three women’s assistant referees.
FIFA Referees Committee chairperson Pierluigi Collina, said “We are very happy that with Stéphanie Frappart from France, Salima Mukansanga from Rwanda and Yoshimi Yamashita from Japan, as well as assistant referees Neuza Back from Brazil, Karen Díaz 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.”
“This concludes a long process that began several years ago with the deployment of female referees at FIFA men’s junior and senior tournaments. 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. They deserve to be at the FIFA World Cup because they constantly perform at a really high level, and that’s the important factor for us,” concluded Pierluigi Collina.