Referee Stéphanie Frappart during Croatia - Germany, which they met this Thursday in the last game of the group stage. Georgi Licovski (EFE)
"I need to channel this great emotion," said Stéphanie Frappart, after learning last Wednesday that she would become the first woman in history to direct a World Cup match.
The 38-year-old Frenchwoman had been appointed to referee the 44th World Cup match in Qatar, no less than Germany-Costa Rica, decisive to resolve the classification of Group E.
The imam of the Masjid mosque was calling to prayer in the Khor neighborhood that bordered the desert, when Frappart entered the Al-Bayt stadium, the gigantic representation of a tent in the middle of the plain.
At 9:30 p.m. on Thursday in Qatar, the arbitration trio that he formed with the Mexican assistant Karen Díaz and the Brazilian Neuza Back, stepped on the pitch.
The tension was reflected in the lean face of the Frenchwoman born in Herblay-sur-Seine, a former soccer player and referee by vocation since she was 13 years old.
"I understood that my life had changed when in 2019 people began to recognize me on the street," he told CNN.
“I think I can inspire a lot of women to take on more responsibilities.
I hope this World Cup will also help improve the lives of women in Qatar."
According to Amnesty International, women in Qatar are legally considered inferior to men.
They cannot get married, work in the administration or go to a gynecologist without the authorization of their father, brother, grandfather, uncle or her husband.
The hijab, the Islamic dress code, inspired by the Koran's mandates, not only requires women and men to dress differently.
It expressly prohibits showing off your legs in public.
That is exactly what Frappart did before the 80,000 spectators who gathered at Al-Bayt: dress in shorts, just like the male referees dress.
The French referee Frappart warms up before the match with the two assistants, the Brazilian Neuza Ines Back and the Mexican Karen Diaz Medina.DPA via Europa Press (DPA via Europa Press)
“Stéphanie has been at the top level for years,” observed Pierluigi Collina, FIFA's head of referees.
“For us there are no men and women but official referees.
I have told her: 'You are not here to fill a female quota.
She is here because she is a FIFA referee ”.
Frappart, who is part of the list of 36 judges at the World Cup, had just served as fourth official in the Poland-Mexico match.
No one was surprised by his presence in a team of referees that includes Central Americans and Asians with no experience in championships as prestigious as the French one, a pioneer of soccer for all intents and purposes.
In 2019 Frappart became the first woman to officiate a Ligue 1 match, then she whistled the UEFA Super Cup final between Liverpool and Chelsea and the French Cup final that same year.
In 2020 she debuted in the men's Champions League, where she is already a recurring presence, recognized by all fans.
Since 2020, she has also refereed international League of Nations and Eurocup matches.
just a card
On December 1, 2022, he will be registered in the annals of football for two events.
It will be remembered as the day Germany was eliminated for the second consecutive World Cup in a group stage, and it will be evoked as the date of the first women's World Cup arbitration.
A great step for the integration of women that will not go down in history due to the incidents noted in the arbitration act.
Hardly a yellow card, to the Costa Rican Duarte in the course of an hour and a half of emotions to the limit.
If Gortetzka moved around the field as Frappart did, of a marathon nature, Germany would not have had as many problems balancing their game against Costa Rica.
The judge maneuvered omnipresent but without being noticed.
With the players overloaded with tension, he called just 12 fouls, did not need penalties or warnings to calm things down, and when there was an attempt at a fight, such as between Waston and Rüdiger on set pieces, he intervened with a calming effect.
When he signaled the end and the two teams were eliminated, neither a violent incident nor a controversial decision was recorded in the retina of the spectators.
"He will do great," said Hansi Flick, the day before.
The German coach did not make a better prognosis in his brief stint at the World Cup.
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