STEPHANIE FRAPPART: First Female World Cup Referee
2 min read
compiled by Ben Goodnews
Stephanie Frappart will break history as the first female referee to officiate in the World Cup.
Frappart will feature in the crucial clash between Germany and Costa Rica, where she will become the first female to take charge of a game at the men’s tournament in its 92-year history.
She will be in the middle for the Group E encounter at Al Bayt Stadium on Thursday, in which both teams can still qualify for the knockout stage in Qatar.
She was one of three female referees selected as part of the pool for the World Cup in May, along with Salima Mukansanga of Rwanda and Yoshimi Yamashita of Japan.
Frappart is no stranger to making history in the international game, having also been the first woman to officiate a men’s World Cup qualifying match in March 2021 between the Netherlands and Latvia.
The French official has also refereed high-profile men’s games at club level before, including the 2019 UEFA Super Cup between Chelsea and Liverpool, and a year later she became the first female referee of a Champions League group game, taking charge of Juventus’ match against Dynamo Kyiv.
“The men’s World Cup is the most important competition in the world, not only football,” she told The Athletic in May when she was selected for the tournament. “But I was the first female referee in France, the first in Europe, every time the first. I know how to deal with that… You’re there because you deserve it.”
The entire on-field officiating team for the game will be female, with Frappart joined by assistants Neuza Back and Karen Diaz.
