And eight days later, the referees continue to shine… by their absence

One of the great novelties when FIFA announced the arbitral appointments for this Qatar World Cup is the designation of six women. Three as field referees and the remaining three as assistants. On the one hand is the French Stéphanie as collegiate frappartthe Rwandan Salima Mukasanga and the Japanese Yoshimi Yamashita. The participants consisted of the Brazilian Neiza Back, the Mexican Karen Díaz Medina and the American Kathryn Nesbitt.

A decision that also involved arbitration representation by five of FIFA’s six confederations. Only the OFC, the Confederation of Oceania, will not have a woman on the arbitration body. If there is one in the Asian (AFC), African (CAF), European (UEFA), South American (CONMEBOL) confederations and two in the case of North America (CONCACAF).

But eight days after the start of the World Cup, including tomorrow Monday, the only certainty is that none of them will make their debut as the main referee and, as soon as possible, they will not do so until Tuesday, that is, in the last day of group A and B. The first where the games are played simultaneously.

This means that after 32 of the 48 matches in this first group stage have been contested, none of the three referees invited for the first time to a World Cup event have yet to be released. This Sunday, the Japanese Yamashita is also the fourth collegiate player in Belgium-Morocco, the same role he played on Friday in England-United States. For tomorrow, Monday, Kathryn Nesbitt has been appointed as VAR for offside in the Brazil-Switzerland match, a function in which it premiered in the Germany-Japan match of the Spain group held on Thursday.

Until the seventh meeting, the first woman did not appear in Qatar. It was the French Frappart and the Brazilian Neiza Back who were selected as the fourth collegiate and reserve assistants in Mexico-Poland. Thus they became the first women to participate in a World Cup. In three other meetings there was the presence of a woman but always as a referee or substitute assistant. The question then arises: When will they participate, especially when the matches will take on more importance as the World Cup progresses?

Frappart rang for the opening match

The situation of the French Stephanie Frappart is significant, undoubtedly the most mediatic of all. He rose to prominence in August 2019 when he was selected by UEFA to officiate the men’s European Super Cup final between Liverpool and Chelsea which ended in a 2–2 draw, although he has been in the French league since 2014. masculine. His big leap for his country was in April 2019 when he was promoted to Ligue 1 making his debut at Amiens-Strasbourg. Months later, she was promoted to the French first division, becoming the first woman to do so.

At international level, he has held the cockade since 2011. In 2018 he was the referee chosen by FIFA to whistle the final of the U20 World Cup held in France, facing Spain and Japan. A year later, she whistled in the final of the absolute women’s World Cup between the Netherlands and the United States. Last year he was selected as the best referee in the world by the IFFHS. She also whistled in the opening match and final of the 2015 Women’s World Cup. This is his second major event for the men’s teams after last summer he attended the men’s Euro Cup held in several countries, including Spain. There he always played as a fourth collegiate, never making his debut as the main referee. Let’s not forget that he just blew the whistle at the Santiago Bernabéu in the Champions League.

In the case of the Japanese Yashamita, it has had a meteoric rise in Japan. In September he refereed a match in the Japanese top division. The trio is completed by Rwandan collegiate Salima Mukasanga, who since 2018 has been refereeing in the Rwandan National Football League.

UEFA is the confederation with the most designations

In international terms, UEFA is the confederation where referees have whistled the most matches by far. There are a total of 10 assignments out of 32 meetings that will be held when the day ends tomorrow. This represents 31% of the matches held at the World Cup. In addition, Daniele Orsato is the only European to have refereed two matches. After the opening match, last night he presided over the rivalry between Argentina and Mexico. This was followed by CONMEBOL, whose referees participated in seven matches.