Decidedly, Stéphanie Frappart will forever be the first! At 38, the referee from Val-d’Oise was chosen by the French Football Federation (FFF) to lead the 105th edition of the men’s Coupe de France final between Nantes and Nice on May 7 (9 p.m.) at the Stade de France.
It was one of the distinctions still missing from the only female field referee in the French professional world. For years, Stéphanie Frappart had become the first woman to referee a Ligue 2 match in 2014 and then in Ligue 1 five years later (Amiens – Strasbourg).
The Frenchwoman then had the honor of refereeing on the European stage. On her list, she posted the European Supercup in 2019 then her first steps in the Europa League in October 2020 (Leicester – Zorya Louhansk) and finally in the Champions League (Juventus – Dynamo kyiv) on December 2, 2020. She has also captained a Nations League game between Malta and Latvia in 2020.
On the women’s side, Stéphanie Frappart refereed a World Cup final in France in 2019 between the United States and the Netherlands.
Eleven years after having refereed the final of the Challenge de France, the former name of the Women’s French Cup, Stéphanie Frappart will therefore once again be the very first woman to lead the oldest national competition in football.
“I am happy and proud of this nomination. I thank the FFF for the trust it places in me. I particularly appreciate this competition, a major event in French football which mixes amateurs with professionals, ”says Stéphanie Frappart on the FFF website. “His designation rewards both his serious work and his performance. It is amply deserved”, justifies Pascal Garibian, technical director of arbitration on the same site.
Two days after being selected among the 13 referees who will compete in the Women’s Euro in England from July 6 to 31, Stéphanie Frappart has again received good news.
