World Cup will feature women refereeing for the first time

The Qatar World Cup has always been destined to record many firsts: the first to be played in the Middle East, the first to be played in November and December. And now it will also be the first men’s World Cup to have a game refereed by a woman.

On Thursday (19), FIFA appointed three women as part of the group of 36 referees selected to referee the tournament, and another three for the group of assistants who will work as linesman. The most likely candidate to be the first woman to officiate at a World Cup match is Stephanie Frappart of France, who has already broken down several barriers in European football.

Frappart was also chosen to be part of the refereeing teams at Eurocup last year, but was limited to working as a fourth referee, a role that places her between the benches of the two teams.

By announcing its refereeing picks, FIFA is positioned to go one step further. In addition to Frappart, Japan’s Yoshimi Yamashita and Salima Mukansanga, from Rwanda, were selected as potential referees. They, and the other referees chosen for the World Cup, will participate in seminars in preparation for the tournament, which will involve 32 teams.

“This concludes a long process that began several years ago with the appointment of referees for FIFA’s youth competitions and veterans,” said Pierluigi Collina, chairman of FIFA’s Refereeing Commission. “In this way, we clearly emphasize that what matters to us is quality, not genre.”

Women from the Americas were selected to participate in the tournament as flags: North American Kathryn Nesbitt, Mexican Karen Díaz and Brazilian Neuza Back.

For FIFA, the effort to include women, on and off the pitch, has become increasingly urgent due to questions about the way in which the organization manages the sport, and given the growing worldwide interest in women’s football.

The money invested in the development of players and referees has grown a lot. This, according to Collina, should help make the selection of women referees and their presence at matches a less frequent subject of discussion than is the case today.

“I would hope that, in the future, the selection of women as referees for elite men’s tournaments will be perceived as normal and cease to cause a sensation,” he said. “They deserve to be at the FIFA World Cup because they consistently perform at a high level, and that’s the important factor for us.”

For now, there are still challenges and problems. Frappart received abusive messages before and after refereeing a Coupe de France match, which was decided by a penalty kick. She said she avoids the networks and rarely reads football reports.

“Personally, my focus is what happens on the field, and I don’t pay attention to controversies and arguments about my performance,” he said.

That the opportunity for referees to referee a World Cup match for the first time arises in a conservative Persian Gulf country like Qatar only makes the situation more intriguing. Some establishments and restaurants in the tiny emirate promote separation between men and women; men cannot enter areas reserved for women and families. The stadiums, however, will operate in an open manner, without such restrictions.

FIFA has become more innovative when it comes to refereeing its multibillion-dollar tournament. The last two editions of the World Cup have used technology to determine if the ball has crossed the goal line. In the last World Cup, in Russia, FIFA adopted a system of video assistance to referees (VAR).

VAR was also used at the most recent women’s World Cup in France in 2019, but its use, largely because of cost, has yet to become widespread in the sport. For this reason, FIFA said that the control teams for the video support system will arrive mainly from Europe and South America.

Selecting the referees for the tournament has been made difficult by the pandemic, which is also why FIFA announced its referee selection later than usual.

“We want to work even harder with those who have been nominated for the FIFA World Cup, monitoring them in the coming months,” said Collina, who officiated at a World Cup final. “The message is clear: don’t relax now that you’ve been chosen, keep working hard and preparing very seriously for the World Cup.”

FIFA wants the referees to have a physical condition that allows them to accompany the players, who are increasingly physically prepared. To this end, the organization announced that it will put together a conditioning plan for each referee to land in Qatar at the height of their form.

“All members of the refereeing teams will be monitored carefully in the coming months, and a final assessment on the physical, technical and medical aspects will be carried out shortly before the World Cup,” said Massimo Busacca, FIFA’s director of refereeing.

But despite all this work, a referee’s fate can be defined by a mistake.

“We cannot eliminate all errors, but we will do everything possible to reduce them,” said Busacca.