Frenchwoman Stéphanie Frappart, first woman to referee at the World Cup

A first in the history of football. The French Stéphanie Frappart, will become, Thursday, December 1, the first woman to referee a match of the men’s World Cup, by holding the whistle of the decisive match of group E, Germany-Costa Rica, new stage of a dazzling career started in 1996 and since without a hitch.

The career of this 38-year-old Frenchwoman alone is enough to illustrate the growing place of women in football. Stéphanie Frappart has already been the first female central referee in the French second division (2014) in the men’s Ligue 1 (2019), the first woman to lead the European Supercup in August 2019, the first woman to officiate in the Champions League in December 2020, the first to arbitrate at a Euro in 2021, the first, again, in the Coupe de France final, on May 7…

Here she is now refereeing a meeting in Qatar, alongside Rwandan Salima Mukansanga and Japanese Yoshimi Yamashita – as well as three other women designated as assistants.

“History must be written on Thursday!” Fifa wrote on Twitter on Tuesday announcing the news.

“I am very moved, because it was not necessarily expected. A World Cup is the pinnacle, the biggest competition in the world, so I am honored to participate in it”, explained Stéphanie Frappart at the end of September, during a press briefing in Clairefontaine, after his designation for the trip to Qatar.

Rather than a personal accomplishment, she preferred to see in it “the enhancement of French refereeing. French refereeing is recognized by UEFA and Fifa, it’s good for French refereeing and football.”

Clément Turpin, the other Frenchman among the 36 central referees officiating in Doha, who held the whistle during the 1st round of the world, praises his experience. “She has done dozens of international competitions. She knows perfectly well how to manage an intercontinental event”.

His experience is indisputable.

“A lot of diplomacy”

Former player of AS Herblay in the Paris region, she has been refereeing since she was 13 years old. She scoured the French second division stadiums for five seasons before being promoted in the summer of 2019 to Ligue 1, which no other main referee had managed to do until then.

Stéphanie Frappart is then quickly unanimous, attracting the praise of the actors of the game, whether they are on the ground or on the bench.

“She has a lot of diplomacy”, had confided in 2019 Christophe Galtier then coach of Lille. “All she has to do is give a look, a smile, a gesture… and it’s over.”

“She has a small voice, but she has charisma, personality,” described midfielder Pierre Bouby, who had rubbed shoulders with her in Ligue 2 with Orléans. “She uses the right words, she explains, she is a diplomat and we can discuss with her.”

His career has since taken off, moving from France to Europe. During Juventus Turin-Dynamo kyiv (3-0) in December 2020, she became the first woman to officiate as the main referee of a Champions League match, and her performance that evening, under control, had been applauded by the press.

Then it will be the Euro and finally the world. In between, she will referee another historic match. Last March, she refereed the Barcelona-Real Madrid women’s match in front of 91,000 spectators massed in the Camp Nou, a historic record at the time.

“A big step forward”

Obviously, questions about being a woman in the midst of men are regularly asked of her. His answers are, like his way of refereeing, firm and diplomatic.

“We have to prove physically, technically and tactically that we are the same as men. I’m not afraid of that. Nothing changes for me,” said the Frenchwoman in 2019, when she was preparing to referee a European Super Cup match.

Because if it happens that the players are mistaken and still sometimes call him “Mr. arbiter”, it makes no difference for Stéphanie Frappart. For her, behind the whistle, there is no difference. “The decisions and the rules are the same. I do the same physical tests as the boys. The players don’t go slower on a pitch [lorsqu’ils sont arbitrés par une femme] so the requirements are not lower“, she explained in 2019 in an interview with Parisian.

His speech has not changed since: “I have always campaigned for us to be taken into account for our skills and not necessarily for our gender. If the girls have qualities, we must give them the opportunity too to get there,” she added in September. “Since 2019, we have taken a big step forward. Now, it is no longer a surprise to see women refereeing men, regardless of the continent or the country. So it is in line with what s ‘is done before and brought to light a little more’.

Clément Turpin agrees. “Today, they are selected not because they are women, but because they are competent”. “It’s the first time, but it’s part of a path taken for a while,” he adds, refusing to give him advice.

The referee, originally from the Paris suburbs, has already experienced machismo. But most of the time, he came from the stands. On the lawn, she was protected from verbal abuse, unlike her parents who often endured it in her place, as she told the Team: “When you’re on the pitch, you’re in your bubble. , you don’t hear. But it’s not always easy to be on the sidelines and hear words about your own child”.

More recently, in 2015, she had to deal with the sexist slippage of Valenciennes coach David Le Frapper. While he felt that his team should have benefited from a penalty against Laval, he declared after the draw (0-0): “Regarding the penalty, he was there, but the referee did not Didn’t see, maybe she was skating. When you’re a woman and you come to referee a sport for men, it’s complicated. The technician then apologized to Stéphanie Frappart who did not wish to react to these remarks.

The native of Val-d’Oise is not worried about serving in Qatar, despite the criticism that has surrounded this country since its designation.

“It’s also a strong sign from the authorities to put women in this country. I’m not a feminist spokesperson, but if that can make things happen… I know that we often play a role, especially in sport”, she explains, rejoicing to have “always been well received” in Qatar.

With AFP