“You are there because you deserve it” – so are the women at the World Cup like the Khashoggi case: According to the US government, the Saudi prince is probably immune from prosecution

One of the most important rules for World Cup football fans is: the referee is always to blame. But at the upcoming World Cup in Qatar, this rule is no longer universally applicable. In Qatar, depending on the game, the referee is always to blame.

Because in the desert state without women’s rights, for the first time in the 92-year history of the Men’s World Cup, women also set the tone on the field: 6 of the 36 referees, 69 assistants and 24 VAR officials are women.

And so Stephanie Frappart, Salima Mukansanga, Yamashita Yoshimi, Neuza Back, Karen Diaz Medina and Kathryn Nesbitt will probably cause a lot of emotion and rejected hands at the upcoming World Cup – and will always be right in the end.

Giovanni Marti, FIFA Media Relations Officer, told Watson: “These women are named after Qatar because they are some of the best referees in the world.”

Stephanie Frapart

France’s Stephanie Frappart is not only one of the most successful women in the refereeing world, but also one of the most successful among referees in general.

A highlight in her career was certainly that Frappart was allowed to referee the final of the 2019 Women’s World Cup between the USA and the Netherlands in her home country of France.

In an international men’s competition, she was the first woman to play in a Champions League two years ago. The Süddeutsche Zeitung headlined at the time:

And the story continued: a year later, the 38-year-old became the first woman to lead a World Cup qualifier. In addition, since 2019 she has been firmly integrated into the refereeing team of Ligue 1, the top French division for men – also there as the first woman in the league.

Pierluigi Collina, president of the FIFA refereeing committee, said of Frappart and her colleague Kateryna Monzul, who also refereed a World Cup qualifier:

Frappart recently gave an interview to The Athletic magazine describing her on-field tactics. The road to success is to stay calm and always know when to smile, when to talk, and when to use body language consciously.

In addition, the assignment in Qatar is not so special for her, because: “I was the first referee in France. I was the first in Europe. I was always the first. I know how to deal with it.” And so do her two colleagues, she says. Because they were pioneers in Africa and Asia.

She ends the interview with the sentence:

Salima Mukansanga

Rwandan referee Salima Mukansanga has been working for FIFA since 2012.

She told the New York Times that she actually wanted to be a basketball player. But it turned out differently:

This coincidence propelled the 34-year-old to the pinnacle of international football: she has performed at the 2021 Olympic Games, at the 2019 Women’s World Cup in France and at the 2016 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon and at the 2022 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco.

This year’s Africa Cup of Nations saw her take charge of a men’s international competition for the first time, making Mukansanga the first African woman to perform at a top men’s football event.

When she was nominated for the Africa Cup of Nations, she told US sports channel ESPN:

Yamashita Yoshimi

Yamashita Yoshimi has an illustrious referee resume:

The 36-year-old Japanese already played at a World Cup in 2019. Namely at the 2019 Women’s World Cup in France, where she led two games, including the round of 16. At the 2021 Olympic Games, she refereed the match between the United States and Sweden in the women’s competition.

Yoshimi is the only woman to regularly officiate men’s matches in Japan’s top division, the J1 League.

That year she also performed on the international stage in a men’s competition, namely in the AFC Champions League – as the first referee and Asian woman in this competition.

Yoshimi explained the pressure on the women’s referees in the “Guardian” regarding the World Cup:

The assistants

The three female referees are joined by three assistants.

Another person who knows what it’s like to be one of the first is Brazilian Neuza Back. She was the first to cover a match in Brazil’s men’s competition and, in 2021, was one of the first women ever to attend a FIFA men’s competition – the Club World Cup in Qatar.

At the last game in Qatar, Back was one of two women on the referee team. The women were treated second-class during the post-match tribute, with Qatari Football Association president Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani refusing to shake her hand.

Also from Latin America comes Karen Diaz Medina, who plays in the Mexican league. A year ago, when the Concacaf Football Federation asked her what her main goal in football was, she said:

Kathryn Nesbitt was named MLS Assistant Referee of the Year for 2020, becoming the first and only woman to receive the honour.

Before becoming an umpire, the sports star was a competitive figure skater, volleyball player, and soccer player in her youth. She later held an assistant professorship in analytical chemistry at Towson University in Maryland. Two weeks before the 2019 Women’s World Cup, she resigned from science to concentrate fully on football.

Incidentally, the 34-year-old found out via Twitter that she had been called up for the 2022 World Cup, she revealed to the Washington Post. And she also says:

“Light Up the Sky”

The presence of the six officials at the World Cup is duly organized by FIFA. In the video of one of the four FIFA World Cup numbers, the referees make a cameo appearance: Like statues of liberty, they hold their flags and yellow cards in a heroic pose as four of the most famous singers in the Arab world sing “Light up the sky” .

Ultimately, the performance of the six women in the group stage, as well as the progress of their national teams, will determine whether they qualify for the final rounds – just like their male counterparts. But no matter how often they end up on the field, the visibility of women in football goes one step further with their commitment to the most important football event.

And the visibility of women in football is important if you want to attract them to a career. It’s a motivation for young girls who have such real role models on the soccer field. So this World Cup could be a catalyst for more women on the field at future World Cups. Collina said in 2021: