On Thursday, the FIFA Referees Committee revealed the names of the 36 referees, 69 assistant referees and 24 video match officials that've been selected to work the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. For the first time ever, female referees will officiate matches at a men's World Cup.
One of Stéphanie Frappart (France), Salima Mukansanga (Rwanda) or Yoshimi Yamashita (Japan) will make history as the first woman to take charge of a match at the competition. It may well be Frappart, who officiated the 2019 Women's World Cup Final and later became the first female to ref in Ligue 1, the Champions League and a World Cup qualifier.
Mukansanga made history earlier this year as the first woman to referee at the Africa Cup of Nations, and Yamashita became the first to officiate in the AFC Champions League back in April.
This recognition is thoroughly deserved.
"This concludes a long process that began several years ago with the deployment of female referees at FIFA men's junior and senior tournaments," said Pierluigi Collina, FIFA Referees Committee chairman. "They deserve to be at the World Cup because they constantly perform at a really high level, and that's the important factor for us. As always, the criteria we have used is 'quality first' and the selected match officials represent the highest level of refereeing worldwide."
There are also three female assistant referees: Neuza Back (Brazil), Karen Díaz Medina (Mexico) and Kathryn Nesbitt (USA). Karen was the first woman to officiate a Liga MX final, and Nesbitt became the first woman to referee a championship match in North America when officiating the 2020 MLS Cup.
Further representation from the U.S. is provided by the MLS contingent of Ismail Elfath (ref), Kyle Atkins and Corey Parker (assistant refs) and Armando Villarreal (video).
World Cup Referees 2022 Qatar (36 Match Officials)
Abdulrahman Al Jassim (Qatar)
Ivan Barton (El Salvador)
Chris Beath (Australia)
Raphael Claus (Brazil)
Matthew Conger (New Zealand)
Ismail Elfath (USA)
Mario Escobar (Guatemala)
Alireza Faghani (Iran)
Stephanie Frappart (France)
Bakary Gassama (Gambia)
Mustapha Ghorbal (Algeria)
Victor Gomes (South Africa)
Istvan Kovacs (Romania)
Ning Ma (China)
Danny Makkelie (Netherlands)
Szymon Marciniak (Poland)
Said Martinez (Honduras)
Antonio Mateu (Spain)
Andres Matias Matonte Cabrera (Uruguay)
Mohammed Abdulla Mohammed (UAE)
Salima Mukansanga (Rwanda)
Maguette Ndiaye (Senegal)
Michael Oliver (England)
Daniele Orsato (Italy)
Kevin Ortega (Peru)
Cesar Ramos (Mexico)
Fernando Rapallini (Argentina)
Wilton Sampaio (Brazil)
Daniel Siebert (Germany)
Janny Sikazwe (Zambia) — You might remember him from AFCON
Anthony Taylor (England)
Facundo Tello (Argentina)
Clement Turpin (France)
Jesus Valenzuela (Venezuela)
Slavko Vinci (Slovenia)
Yoshimi Yamashita (Japan)
Follow this link for the full list of officials.
