It took almost a century, 92 years to be exact, for this to happen, but finally, a woman successfully took charge of a men’s World Cup (WC) match in Qatar as the center referee.
French referee, 38-year-old Stéphanie Frappart, was bestowed the honor as she led an all-women referee trio during a decisive group stage game between Costa Rica and Germany on Thursday, 1 December.
Germany beat Costa Rica 4-2 in a do-or-die thrilling match for both sides.
Frappart also made history, becoming the first Woman referee to issue a yellow card in the men’s World Cup. Costa Rica’s Oscar Duarte, earned the dubious distinction in the 76th minute of the match, becoming the first footballer in the men’s World Cup history to be yellow-carded by a Woman referee.
Her refereeing journeys started a almost two decades ago.
She officiated her first game in 2003 at age 19, a women’s match between the Henin-Beaumont F.C. and La Roche-sur-Yon in France, and two decades later, she is on the world’s biggest platform calling the shots for 100 minutes of play.
Overseeing the six-goal thriller between the four-time champions and the North Americans, Frappart, who handed only one yellow card, has been widely praised for her performance.
She was flagged, for the Group E match at Al Bayt Stadium, with two Latina women, Brazil’s Neuza Back and Mexican Karen Diaz Medina as her assistants. Germany, who were eliminated at the first hurdle as holders at Russia 2018, scored three times in the final 17 minutes to finally see off a Costa Rica side who held their ambitions of progressing to the round of 16.
However, Japan’s win against Spain in the other game in the group meant those two sides qualified at the expense of Germany.
This Thursday, an all-female refereeing trio will take charge of a men’s @FIFAWorldCup match for the first time.
Stéphanie Frappart will be joined by assistants Neuza Back and Karen Diaz in overseeing @fedefutbolcrc against @DFB_Team.
History in the making! 🙌 pic.twitter.com/KusT7SOUn9
— FIFA.com (@FIFAcom) November 29, 2022
She had already made history at the tournament, having become the first female official for a men’s World Cup match when she was the fourth official for the goalless draw between Mexico and Poland and in the Portugal versus Ghana group stage match.
Frappart told reporters in a previous interview that her selection as the lead referee in a World Cup match came as a surprise. Chairman of the FIFA referee committee, Pierluigi Collina, a no-nonsense football official, has had high praise for Frappart and the other five women, including Rwanda’s Salima Mukansanga, who made it to the officiating list for this tournament.
“I hope that there will be more Frapparts in the future and that this will no longer constitute an oddity or news story,” Collina told Italian press.
Frappart has had many firsts. She was the first female official to referee a Ligue 1 game in 2019 and then, in 2020, a men’s Champions League match. She was also the first woman to referee the French Cup final in the summer and broke new ground when she officiated at the men’s Euro 2020.
In December 2020, she became the first female official to take charge of a men’s Champions League match when Italian champions Juventus defeated Ukrainian club Dynamo Kyiv 3-0 in the group stage in Turin.
She also refereed the Super Cup match between Liverpool and Chelsea in 2019 and the women’s World Cup final between the US and the Netherlands the same year.