Six women, including the French Stéphanie Frappart, will appear for the first time among the 105 referees of the next Men's World Cup in Qatar, FIFA announced on Thursday.
Three of them - Stéphanie Frappart, Rwandan Salima Mukansanga and Japanese Yoshimi Yamashita - have been appointed among the 36 field referees, while Brazilian Neuza Back, Mexican Karen Diaz Medina and American Kathryn Nesbitt will officiate alongside of 66 other assistant referees.
"Their appointment is the result of a long process that began several years ago, which began with the appointment of female referees for certain FIFA senior and youth men's competitions", underlines in a press release Pierluigi Collina, the president. of the Commission of Referees of the world body.
The six selected "have been chaining high-level performances for several years", insisted the Italian, hoping that "in the future, the presence of female referees during high-level male competitions (will be) considered as the rule rather than the exception.
This is an additional step for Stéphanie Frappart, 38, already the first female referee in the French second division (2014), in the men's Ligue 1 (2019), in the European Supercup (August 2019), in the Ligue des champions (December 2020) and in the Coupe de France final (May 7).
For all the referees appointed within the six confederations, to which are added 24 video assistant referees, the preparation will start at the beginning of the summer "with seminars in Asuncion, Madrid and Doha".
It will focus in particular on "the protection of players", "uniformity" in the application of the rules, as well as "understanding the characteristics of teams and players".
"There are bound to be mistakes," warned Massimo Busacca, director of FIFA's refereeing sub-division, "but we will do everything to ensure that there are as few as possible."
