History will be made at Qatar’s Al Bayt Stadium on Thursday, 1 December, as Stephanie Frappart will become the first woman to officiate a men’s FIFA World Cup game. Frappart will referee the Group E match between Costa Rica and Germany.
The French referee will be aided by an all-female team, featuring Brazil’s Neuza Back and Mexico’s Karen Diaz Medina, with USA’s Kathryn Nesbitt assisting her.
Frappart had registered her name in the books of history on multiple occasions previously.
Back in 2019, she became the first female referee to officiate a Ligue 1 match, while a year later, she also officiated a men’s UEFA Champions League match.
On being asked about a female referee officiating his team’s match, Germany’s head coach Hansi Flick said “I have 100% trust in the referee. She deserves it because of her performances. I hope she’s looking forward to the game as much as we are.”
Frappart, however, is not the only female referee to have been appointed to officiate a men’s World Cup game in Qatar. Rwanda's Salima Mukansanga and Japan’s Yoshimi Yamashita have also been selected, though they are yet to referee a match.
Odds Stacked Against Germany
As for the match itself, Germany will have to produce their best performance if they aspire to proceed further in this competition. Having suffered a 1-2 defeat against Japan in their opening encounter, followed by a 1-1 draw against Spain, the four-time champions are reeling at the bottom of the Group E standings.
They will first need to secure three points against Costa Rica, and then hope the result in the match between Spain and Japan works out in their favour. A Japanese defeat would make things easy for the German side, but if the Samurai Blue are victorious, Die Mannschaft will need to beat Costa Rica by a significantly big margin.
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