World Cup Qatar, Frappart first woman to referee in a world cup

For the first time in World Cup history, a female referee will officiate a match. The French Stephanie Frappart has indeed been designated for the Costa Rica-Germany match, match of group E, which will be played next Thursday. Frappart is one of three female referees in the group of 36 match officials and so far none had yet been chosen as referee. Her world debut was, as for the other two colleagues, in the role of fourth official. The Frenchwoman was designated as fourth official for Mexico-Poland (the referee was Australian Chris Beath on that occasion).

The carreer

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Born in Val-d’Oise in France, on 14 December 1983, and with a past as an amateur footballer, Frappart started refereeing when she was just 13 and hasn’t stopped since. Director in the administrative department of the FSGT (the sports-leisure federation of Paris) during her everyday life, Stephanie then embarked on an important career that took her first on the pitches of Ligue 2 and then on those of all the major women’s tournaments. She did it all before refereeing in France’s top men’s league, where she made her debut in 2019. In 2020 she became the first female referee in the Champions League, called to referee the match between Juventus and Dynamo Kiev.