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Football
Women referees to officiate FIFA World Cup matches for the first time in Qatar
In a first, women referees will officiate matches at the FIFA Men's World Cup in Qatar this year, the sport's governing body FIFA announced on Thursday.
Referee Stephanie Frappart from France (Source: Getty)
In a first, women referees will officiate matches at the FIFA Men's World Cup in Qatar this year, the sport's governing body FIFA announced on Thursday.
As per Reuters, three women referees and three women assistant referees will be part of the global showpiece event in Qatar, which will be held between November 21 and December 18.
The list includes three referees — Stephanie Frappart from France, Salima Mukansanga from Rwanda and Japan's Yoshimi Yamashita; three assistant referees Neuza Back from Brazil, Karen Diaz Medina from Mexico and American Kathryn Nesbitt.
The FIFA World Cup will feature a total of 36 referees, 69 assistant referees and 24 video match officials. "This concludes a long process that began several years ago with the deployment of female referees at FIFA men's junior and senior tournaments," said Pierluigi Collina, FIFA Referees Committee chairman to Reuters.
"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. As always, the criteria we have used is 'quality first' and the selected match officials represent the highest level of refereeing worldwide."
Frappart became the first female official to be involved in European Championship matches after UEFA included her in the list of referees for the tournament last year.
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