Fifa announced a few days ago the list of referees, main, assistants and video, for the men’s World Cup, which will take place in November and December in Qatar.
There will be 36 referees, 69 field assistants – the popular linesman – and 24 acting as VAR (video referee).
The big news was the presence of women professionals in the men’s World Cup. It will be unprecedented, and they will be six.
Among the referees are Frenchwoman Stéphanie Frappart, the most famous of them, as she has refereed men’s Champions League and men’s World Cup qualifiers, Japan’s Yoshimi Yamashita and Rwandan’s Salima Mukansanga.
The flags chosen by FIFA are the North American Kathryn Nesbitt, the Mexican Karen Díaz Medina and… a Brazilian! Neuza Inês Back from Santa Catarina.
In football, and not only in football but in all sports, and not only in all sports but in all professions and areas of activity, history reserves a special place for the first ones (and first ones).
There are many, many, and the ones I remember most, due to school learning, are the American Thomas Edison, creator of the electric light bulb –Pelé was baptized Edson (Arantes do Nascimento) in his honor–, and the Scottish Graham Bell , the telephone, although there are reports that correctly point out that it was not him, but the Italian Antonio Meucci, the inventor of the device.
Returning to football, the pioneering spirit, when it comes to Brazil, is credited to Charles Miller, who introduced the ludopedia around here.
The same Miller who names the square in front of the Pacaembu stadium (central region of São Paulo) and, it should be noted, is not English. He lived and studied in England, but was born in São Paulo.
It is not my intention in this text to present the hundreds and hundreds of pioneers and pioneers in football, as it would be an almost endless task.
Focusing only on the men’s World Cup, it is appropriate to mention that Uruguay won the inaugural one, in 1930, playing at home.
That the first to score a goal in this competition was Frenchman Lucien Laurent. That the first to score a goal in a final was the Uruguayan Pablo Dorado.
And that, in relation to arbitration, the first judges to act in a World Cup (in this one, in Uruguay, 92 years ago) were the Uruguayan Domingo Lombardi, in France 4 x 1 Mexico, and the Argentine Jose Macias, in the USA 3 x 0 Belgium.
Two? Yes because both matches started at the same time. The final (Uruguay 4 x 2 Argentina) was led by Belgian Jean Langenus.
In this World Cup, Brazil had its pioneer. Gilberto de Almeida Rego (1881-1961) flagged France x Mexico and refereed Argentina 1 x 0 France, Uruguay 4 x 0 Romania and Uruguay 6 x 1 Yugoslavia.
The first Brazilian referee to direct a men’s Cup decision was Arnaldo Cezar Coelho (Italy 3 x 1 Germany, Spain, in 1982), the same one who, famous commentator that he became, always said “the rule is clear” to clarify bids doubtful.
Four years later, Romualdo Arppi Filho would be in another World Cup final (Argentina 3 x 2 Germany, in Mexico).
Having said that, Neuza Back, 37, born in small Saudades (SC) –with less than 10,000 inhabitants, founded in 1961 and known in the region for the pig festival–, is a privileged place in this context.
She will have, except for some unforeseen event until the end of the year (an injury, for example, which is not expected to happen), her name will be immortalized in books – in print and ebooks – and on the internet as one of the first representatives of refereeing in the men’s World Cup.
Since 2008, it has been working hard and has been keen on its positioning on the sides of football fields, and is currently part of FIFA, Conmebol (the South American confederation), CBF (Brazilian Football Confederation) and FPF (Paulista Federation). of football).
In men’s competitions, he played in the Copa do Brasil, Copa Sudamericana, Libertadores da América and Club World Cup.
The other Brazilian representatives in the refereeing at the Qatar World Cup will be the referees Raphael Klaus and Wilton Pereira Sampaio and the linesmen Bruno Boschilia (nephew of the late former referee Dulcídio Wanderley Boschilia), Bruno Pires, Danilo Simon Manis and Rodrigo Figueiredo.
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