Three women remain among the 20 referees and 30 assistants who remain at the World Cup

Six women have started the World Cup within the refereeing establishment selected by FIFA for this appointment in Qatar. On one side are the referees Stéphanie Frappart from France, Salima Mukasanga from Rwanda and Yoshimi Yamashita from Japan. Also three are the number of attendees invited for the first time to a full world tournament for national teams. They are the Brazilian Neiza Back, the Mexican Karen Díaz Medina and the North American Kathryn Nesbitt.

After the cut made by FIFA yesterday, which was announced by Mundo Deportivo and where there are only 20 referees left in addition to 39 assistants and 19 VAR managers, the representation of women has been reduced by half. In other words, among the 16 referees, 30 assistants and 5 VAR members who returned to their place of origin are three of the six women selected for Qatar. Specifically two collegiates and an assistant. In the first section are Salima Mukasanga and Yoshimi Yamashita. In the attendees section is the Mexican Karen Díaz.

With referees concerned, both the Rwandan and the Japanese returned to their country without making their debut as the main referee in a World Cup match. Both have done it as fourth referees. The only debutant so far is the French Frappart who has been appointed for the final day’s group stage clash between Costa Rica and Germany. Meeting where Brazilian Neiza Back and Mexican Karen Díaz acted as assistants. Certainly the latter is what FIFA ruled from these quarterfinals.

So there is still a complete refereeing trio of women in Qatar (Frappart, Neuza Back and Kathryn Nesbitt) who could still be appointed for one of the six matches yet to be made official by FIFA. The two quarterfinal matches on Saturday, the two semifinals as well as the third and fourth place along with the grand final. The North American has now been selected to act as the offside VAR for tomorrow’s duel between Croatia and Brazil.