The challenge of refereeing the 2022 World Cup in Qatar

In Qatar, women will referee for the first time games of the most important men’s soccer tournament, including a Brazilian. Although they are proportionately few in arbitration, change is seen as significant. The last time Brazilian Neuza Inês Back was in Qatar for a game, she was part of the refereeing team in the 2020 Club World Cup final, when then-European champions Bayern Munich beat Mexican giants Tigres 1-0 in Al Rayyan.

The Santa Catarina has already played in games in the Brazilian Championship, Copa Libertadores and Copa do Brasil, as well as in the 2019 Women’s World Cup in France. And in 2022 she was designated by FIFA to be an assistant at the World Cup in Qatar. This will be the first time that women will referee games in the most important men’s football tournament.

At the awards ceremony following the Club World Cup match, Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad Al Thani of the Qatari royal family happily slapped his fists at male players and officials as they passed him to collect their medals. But when Back and his compatriot Edina Batista, who served as the fourth referee, walked past him, Al Thani seemed to look beyond the two women as if they didn’t exist.

While Islamic law forbids men from physically touching women outside their immediate families, that doesn’t stop them from being courteous, lowering their eyes and making other gestures of respect.

Images of the incident quickly went viral. Organizers insisted it was a “small misunderstanding” related to Covid-19 hygiene protocols, but it was interpreted by Qatar’s critics as further evidence that the country, with its strict laws, is unsuitable for hosting sporting events. global.

Now, Back is set to return to Qatar as one of six women on the men’s World Cup refereeing team starting in November. Her fellow assistants are Kathryn Nesbitt (US) and Karen Diaz Medina (Mexico), while Stephanie Frappart (France), Yoshimi Yamashita (Japan) and Salima Mukansanga (Rwanda) will serve as head judges.

New to the tournament comes in a controversial edition, with the Middle Eastern country being accused by human rights organizations of using football as a platform to fend off unsavory allegations of human rights violations, including gender discrimination.

While the proportion of women on the tournament’s refereeing team is low, analysts say the change is significant, especially in a country where women can be, literally as in the case of Back and Al Thani, ignored.

“That this is happening in Qatar is a strong message,” says Erin Blankenship, co-founder of Equal Playing Field, a non-profit organization that seeks better representation of women in sports.

“I don’t expect the World Cup to have a 50/50 gender divide. But I think it’s getting to the point where it doesn’t matter what gender. If you’re good at your job, you have every right to be on the field. , that is the goal.”

Good sign for gender equality?

But not everyone sees the women referees at the World Cup as a positive move, with some fans, particularly men, mocking them and criticizing what they see as an invasion of male space.

Stephanie Frappart is one of the most criticized. The 37-year-old is one of France’s top football referees and became the first woman to officiate in a men’s UEFA Super Cup final (Liverpool vs Chelsea) in 2019, as well as a men’s UEFA Champions League match (Juventus vs. Dynamo Kiev) in 2020.

Frappart has been on FIFA’s list of international judges for more than a decade and has refereed high-profile games, such as the tense final of the 2019 Women’s World Cup, when the US team, led by Megan Rapinoe, defeated the Netherlands.

But Frappart’s success is a double-edged sword. The higher the profile, the greater the criticism. Like those of former French player Jerome Rothe, who even on a radio show discredited his choice for the Cup, saying that it “doesn’t measure up”.

“When people say that, it’s because they think women will never be good enough for the best leagues, which are men’s games,” counters Blankenship. “But the athletes who make it this far are usually women who are prepared to resist and who have climbed many invisible mountains,” she added.

Pressure from the crowds

While Frappart continues to fight chauvinism in France, his colleague Salima Mukansanga faced different challenges in Rwanda. Despite Paul Kagame’s autocratic rule, Rwanda is one of the most gender-equal countries, with nearly two-thirds of its parliamentary seats held by women.

But football referees, both male and female, are still the villains for fans, including Mukansanga’s own father, who scolded the referees when his team lost.

But for young Salima, the owners of the yellow and red cards in their pockets seemed the most important figures in the game. So when she graduated from high school at age 15, she went straight to refereeing, working from Rwanda’s regional leagues to reaching the world’s top tournaments. The 33-year-old made headlines earlier this year when she became the first woman to referee two games at the African Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Cameroon.

She told the report that, before the kickoff, she was nervous. There is more pressure in the men’s games, because of the higher standards and because she is one of the first women to handle senior men’s tournaments. The excited cheers weighed down on her.

But she conquered the fear. As Zimbabwe defeated Guinea, Mukansanga’s face was an unreadable canvas running across the field with sharp eyes, oblivious to the stunned audience at the sight of a referee.

When a Guinean striker patted her arm patronizingly to suggest she reconsider a teammate’s yellow card, Mukansanga muttered, “Do you want one too?” The attacker quickly left the scene.

beyond Qatar

The other women referees at the World Cup in Qatar are Japan’s Yoshimi Yamashita, who refereed the men’s games in the Asian Nations Cup and the AFC Champions League; assistant Kathryn Nesbitt, chemistry teacher and soccer referee; and assistant Karen Díaz Medina, from Mexico.

There are still several arguments in favor of better representation of women in sports, but for women referees at the beginning of their careers, the refereeing board in Qatar is a confirmation of the importance of qualifying, says Eva Lotta Lockner, an amateur referee at German club Hamburg SV. .

This means “that we really have a chance to be selected for the top men’s tournaments if we put in the effort and show ambition,” he adds.

But while FIFA’s initiative is commendable, what happens after the Qatar Cup is just as important, says Blankenship, adding that this should be a long-term project.

“I’m excited that this is happening,” she says. “But let us take responsibility for the institutional barriers against women and we will remove them.”