Some 92 years after the first World Cup match was held in Uruguay, Stéphanie Frappart will become the first woman to referee in a men’s match at the tournament. Frappart, a French referee, was appointed to the all-female panel in the deciding match in the group stage between Costa Rica and Germany on Thursday.
Frappart, 38, will lead alongside Brazil’s Neuza Back and Mexico’s Karen Diaz Medina. It was a barrier-breaking moment that both coaches welcomed and deemed overdue.
“I trust her 100 percent,” the German manager, Hansi Flick, said of Frappart’s appointment. “I think she deserves to be here because of her performance and her achievements.”
Costa Rica’s manager, Luis Fernando Suárez, said the same in his pre-match press conference.
“I admire everything women have conquered,” he said. “And I love that they want to keep conquering things. And this is another step forward, especially in this very masculine sport.”
Frappart told French reporters She considers her selection as the referee “a surprise.” However, she has had a stellar career for nearly two decades. A native of Le Plessis-Bouchard, a remote town in the extreme north of the Paris region, she ran her first match in 2003 at the age of 19 – a women’s match between Henin-Beaumont FC and La Roche -sur-Yon. Within two decades, she oversaw a FIFA Women’s World Cup final.
Since then, she has climbed the ladder like no woman before her, winning numerous awards. In 2014, she became the first woman to referee in a men’s match in the Ligue 2, France’s second division. She then refereed matches in the men’s Ligue 1, in international friendlies and the Champions League.
On 14 August 2019, Frappart also became the first woman to referee the UEFA Super Cup match between Chelsea and Liverpool. After the game, Jurgen Klopp, the manager of Liverpool, praise her performance.
“If we played like they whistled, we would’ve won 6-0,” he said.
Pierluigi Collina, the president of the FIFA referees committee, who is known for being tough on his colleagues, has heaped praise on Frappart. “I hope that there will be more Frapparts in the future and this will no longer be a quirky or topical story,” Collina told the newspaper. Italian press in 2021. At the 2019 Globe Soccer Awards, Frappart won the award as best referee and Collina presented the trophy to her.
Frappart told French reporters that she “knew” that her presence in the tournament “would inspire”. But she prefers to let her whistle do the talking.
“I don’t want to be judged differently because of my gender but because of my refereeing skills,” she said.
In Qatar, Stephanie Frappart served as fourth referee for two group stage matches, as Mexico played Poland and Portugal played Ghana.
