World football governing body, FIFA, on Thursday named Rwanda’s Salima Mukansanga as one of three referees to become the first females to officiate in a men’s World Cup.
She was named alongside Stephanie Frappart of France and Japanese, Yoshimi Yamashita, in a list of 129 officials selected for duties in Qatar.
FIFA also named three female assistant referees, they include Neuza Back (Brazil), Karen Diaz Medina (Mexico) and Kathryn Nesbitt (USA).
Of the 129 named officials, 36 are referees, 69 are assistant referees and 24 are video assistant referees (VARs).
The World Cup will be hosted in Qatar between November 21 and December 18, 2022.
Mukansanga, didn’t make it into a U-17 national basketball team at 15 as she was told she was too young forcing her to turn to football.
Congratulations to:
Yamashita Yoshimi 🇯🇵
Stephanie Frappart 🇫🇷
Salima Mukansanga 🇷🇼The first three female referees to be selected for a men’s FIFA World Cup 👏
— FIFA World Cup (@FIFAWorldCup) May 19, 2022
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She became the first woman to officiate at the Africa Cup of Nations in the group stages.
At the Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon, Mukansanga officiated the game between Guinea and Zimbabwe in Yaounde.
She also became the first woman from Rwanda to officiate at a FIFA Women’s World Cup.
Since 2009, 38-year-old, Stephanie Frappart has been featured on the FIFA International Referees List officiating several high-profile matches.
In 2019, Frappart became the first woman to referee a major men’s European match and a French Ligue 1 match.
In 2020, she became the first woman to officiate a UEFA Champions League and became the first woman to officiate at a men’s World Cup Qualifying match in 2021.
Japanese referee, Yoshimi Yamashita, started officiating in 2016 and became the first woman to referee an Asian Champions League match, officiating the game between Australia’s Melbourne City and South Korea’s Jeonnam Dragons.
Yoshimi Yamashita was featured at the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in 2016 and 2018. She was also in charge of games at the FIFA Women’s World Cup France 2019.
She also refereed the game between the US and Sweden during Tokyo 2020.
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Mexican Karen Diaz Medina got her certification as a FIFA Assistant Referee in 2018.
She then served at the Women’s U-17 Championship in Managua, Nicaragua and the Men’s Under-20 Championship in Bradenton Florida.
In 2020, Karen became the first woman referee to officiate in the second leg of the final Liga MX Guard1anes between Pumas and Leon.
Still, in 2020, she took part in the 2020 Women’s Olympic Qualifying in Houston, Texas.
American, Kathryn Nesbitt, was a Professor of Chemistry up until 2 weeks before the Women’s World Cup in 2019 and was the first woman to officiate a championship match in professional men’s sport in North America.
She was named 2020 MLS Assistant Referee of the year.
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Brazilian Neuza Back also joins a list of women inspiring women and girls in football to dream as she gets set to join 5 other female greats in Qatar.
