It sounds like a joke, but it’s not: The French Stephanie Frappart, the Rwandan Salima Mukasanga and the Japanese Yoshimi Yamashitatogether with the Brazilian attendees Neuza Backthe Mexican Karen Diaz Medina and the American Kathryn Nesbittwill make history in Qatar 2022. And it is that It will be the first time that there are female referees in a men’s World Cup, according to the list of referees announced by FIFA.
Frappart, 38 years old and international since 2011, is the most reputable and recognized collegiate. After directing the biggest women’s tournaments, including World Cup finals, in 2019 she became the first woman to referee the men’s Super Cup final (Liverpool-Chelsea) and in 2020 she was the first to direct a Champions League match. (Juventus-Dinamo kyiv).
French Stephanie Frappart
She was also the first female referee in a match at the Men’s European Championship, being appointed as assistant to Dutchman Danny Makkelie in the Turkey-Italy match that opened the tournament.
For its part, Mukasanga She was the first woman to officiate in an Africa Cup of Nations match this year (Zimbabwe-Guinea) after being the fourth referee for the Guinea-Malawi match, and Yamashita officiated this April’s Melbourne City-Jeonnam Dragons match in the Asian Champions League.
Salima Mukansanga, first woman to referee in the Africa Cup of Nations
“We are pleased to be able to count on referees Stéphanie Frappart, Salima Mukansanga and Yoshimi Yamashita, along with assistants Neuza Back, Karen Díaz Medina and Kathryn Nesbitt, for the first time in the history of the World Cup. These appointments culminate a long process that began several years ago. years with the appointment of female referees in junior and senior male FIFA tournaments,” said the Italian Pierluigi CollinaChairman of the FIFA Referees Committee.
Japan’s Yoshimi Yamashita
“In this sense, we will not tire of repeating that what is important is quality and not gender. In the future, the fact that there are elite referees in major men’s competitions will be understood as something normal and stop being news. They deserve be in the FIFA World Cup because his performance is constantly excellent, and that is the determining factor for us”, he concluded.
