Six Ceiling Shattering Women make World Cup History

By Dana Malcolm

Staff Writer

Salima Mukansanga

#Qatar, May 27, 2022 – For the first time in football history three women will referee matches at the ‘highest level of refereeing worldwide’, the FIFA World Cup.

The list of 36 referees, 69 assistant referees and 24 video match officials (VMOs) was published on Thursday.

Rwanda’s Salima Mukansanga; Japan’s Yoshimi Yamashita and France’s  Stéphanie Frappart will grace the turf in Qatar this summer as history makers.

In a press release Pierluigi Collina the chairman of the FIFA Referees Committee said he was “very happy” at the decision noting that it should be a regular occurrence going forward.

“We have been able to call up female match officials for the first time in the history of a FIFA World Cup…In this way, we clearly emphasise that it is quality that counts for us and not gender.  I would hope that in the future, the

 Yoshimi Yamashita

selection of elite women’s match officials for important men’s competitions will be perceived as something normal and no longer as sensational. They deserve to be at the FIFA World Cup because they constantly perform at a really high level, and that’s the important factor for us.”

The three women will be joined by assistant referees Neuza Back from Brazil, Karen Díaz Medina from Mexico and Kathryn Nesbitt from the USA rounding out the first six women in the roles.

Stéphanie Frappart

The role of referees is labor intensive and stressful as huge decisions rest on their shoulders and the preparation is extreme.

“There will be tailor-made individual programmes, in particular concerning health and fitness.  Each match official will be carefully monitored in the next months with a final assessment on technical, physical and medical aspects to be made shortly before the World Cup, in order to have them in the best conditions when the ball starts rolling in Qatar,” said Massimo Busacca, FIFA’s Director of Refereeing.

The World Cup will begin on November 21st and run till December 18th 2022.