At the upcoming World Cup in Qatar, from 21 November to 18 December, female referees will take charge of a World Cup match for the first time in the history of FIFA.
The referees will be: Stéphanie Frappart from France, Salima Mukansanga from Rwanda and Yoshimi Yamashita from Japan. They have been nominated by the FIFA Referees Committee and will be joined at the World Cup in Qatar by a further 33 referees, including Daniel Siebert. Siebert’s team will be assisted by Rafael Foltyn & Jan Seidel. Bastian Dankert (Rostock) and Marco Fritz (Korb) will act as video assistants.
“I hope that the appointment of elite female referees for important men’s competitions will soon no longer be a sensation but a matter of course,” Pierluigi Collina is quoted as saying. A top referee himself, the Italian added: “It is the culmination of a long process that began several years ago with the use of female referees in FIFA youth and senior men’s competitions, and proof that it is quality, not gender, that counts. “
