Stéphanie Frappart, the referee who makes history in Europe

The Frenchwoman Stéphanie Frappart became the first woman to referee a qualifying match for a men's World Cup this Saturday, in the match that the Netherlands beat Latvia 2-0 at the Johan Cruyff Arena in Amsterdam for Group G of the Qualifiers from Europe to Qatar 2022.

"Stéphanie Frappart continues to make history! Congratulations on being the first woman to referee a men's match at the World Cup," wrote FIFA on its social media. Frappart, 37, was the first head judge of a Champions League match (Juventus-Dynamo Kiev, 3-0) in December 2020, in a performance that was widely applauded by the press.

Before that debut in the Champions League, the French referee had already refereed the European Super Cup in 2019, which faced Liverpool and Chelsea, after being the first woman to referee in the second French (2014) and later in Ligue 1 ( 2019). The first meeting of her in the highest category of French football, in a Lyon-Marseille.

"It's both a privilege, an honor and a responsibility. I hope that my career encourages other young girls to get into refereeing", Frappart declared in 2019, according to the AFP agency, shortly before starting her first season in the elite. in men's soccer, interrupted in March last year by the pandemic. Last September, Frappart (referee of the final of the Women's World Cup in France 2019) led a match between national teams, a Latvia-Malta of the League of Nations.

On the other hand, the Ukrainian Kateryna Monzul will be the first referee for Austria-Faroe Island this Sunday, in Vienna, also for the European qualifiers for the Qatar 2022 World Cup. Monzul directed the final of the 2015 Women's World Cup Canada and also has participation in the Ukrainian men's league.