The female officials are Stéphanie Frappart from France, Salima Mukansanga from Rwanda and Yoshimi Yamashita from Japan.
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Female referees will officiate at the men’s World Cup later this year for the first time in the competition’s history. The tournament that will take place from November 21 to December 18 will include three female referees and three assistant referees. The female officials are Stéphanie Frappart from France, Salima Mukansanga from Rwanda and Yoshimi Yamashita from Japan. The assistant referees are Neuza Back from Brazil, Karen Díaz Medina from Mexico and Kathryn Nesbitt from the USA. Frappart became the first female to referee a Champions League match and European Qualifier in recent years. Besides, she has also officiated matches in France’s Ligue 1.
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On the other hand, Mukansanga went on to be the first woman referee during a game at the Africa Cup of Nations at the start of this year. Finally, Yamashita became the first woman referee to officiate an AFC Champions League match earlier this year. Chairman of the FIFA Referees Committee Pierluigi Collina was quoted as saying by fifa.com, “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.”
Congratulations to:
Yamashita Yoshimi ??
Stephanie Frappart ??
Salima Mukansanga ??The first three female referees to be selected for a men’s FIFA World Cup ? pic.twitter.com/tnCS3zImSd
— FIFA World Cup (@FIFAWorldCup) May 19, 2022
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“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,”
A total of 36 referees, including 69 assistant referees and 24 video match officials (VMOs), have been chosen for the event after the FIFA Referees Committee announced the lists of match officials for 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, according to the official FIFA website.
Pierluigi Collina further added: “As always, the criteria we have used is ‘quality first’ and the selected match officials represent the highest level of refereeing worldwide. The 2018 World Cup was very successful, partly because of the high standard of refereeing, and we will do our best to be even better in a few months in Qatar.”
