When French referee Stéphanie Frappart walked onto the pitch for Costa Rica vs. Germany at the 2022 C.E. FIFA World Cup in Qatar, she did something no woman had done before: she blew the opening whistle at a men’s World Cup match. Leading an all-female officiating team, Frappart broke one of the sport’s last remaining gender barriers on the biggest stage in global football.
At a glance
- World Cup referee: On December 1, 2022 C.E., Frappart officiated the Group E match between Costa Rica and Germany, becoming the first woman ever to referee a men’s FIFA World Cup game.
- All-female officiating team: Frappart led an entirely female crew for the historic match, including assistant referees Neuza Back of Brazil and Karen Díaz Medina of Mexico.
- Barrier-breaking career: The 2022 C.E. World Cup appointment was the latest in a decade-long series of firsts — including Ligue 1, the UEFA Super Cup, and the UEFA Champions League — that Frappart accumulated through consistent elite performance.
A career built on firsts
Frappart grew up in Herblay-sur-Seine and started refereeing youth matches at age 13. By 18, she was officiating national under-19 games. In 2011 C.E., she began refereeing in the Championnat National, France’s third division of men’s football. Three years later, she became the first woman to referee in Ligue 2, the second professional tier.
The milestones accelerated from there. In April 2019 C.E., she made her Ligue 1 debut — another first for a woman. Just months later, she refereed the UEFA Super Cup between Liverpool and Chelsea, becoming the first woman to officiate a major men’s European match. In December 2020 C.E., she broke another ceiling when she took charge of the UEFA Champions League match between Juventus and Dynamo Kyiv.
In March 2021 C.E., she became the first woman to officiate a FIFA World Cup qualifying match, overseeing the Netherlands vs. Latvia. Each step came not through special treatment but through demonstrated competence at the level below.
What the World Cup moment meant
FIFA’s decision to include Frappart — along with Salima Mukansanga of Rwanda and Yoshimi Yamashita of Japan — in the 2022 C.E. World Cup officiating pool was the first time women had ever been selected for a men’s World Cup. All three had earned their places through the standard FIFA assessment process.
The appointment signaled something important: that the question of women officiating elite men’s football had effectively been answered on merit. Frappart’s match, Costa Rica vs. Germany, drew no notable controversy over her performance. She called the game cleanly. Germany won 4–2.
In football cultures around the world, officials are scrutinized intensely. The absence of controversy was, in itself, a statement.
Before and after the World Cup
Frappart’s path also included significant work in women’s football. She refereed the 2019 C.E. FIFA Women’s World Cup final between the United States and the Netherlands. She has been on FIFA’s International Referees List since 2009 C.E.
Most recently, on July 27, 2025 C.E., Frappart took charge of the UEFA Women’s Euro 2025 final between England and Spain — continuing a career that now spans the highest matches in both men’s and women’s football.
Still, progress in referee representation has been uneven. Women remain a small fraction of officials at elite levels globally, and pathways into top-flight refereeing remain harder to access in many football associations, particularly outside Europe. Frappart’s firsts matter precisely because they are still firsts — not yet the norm.
Read more
For more on this story, see: Wikipedia — Stéphanie Frappart
For more from Good News for Humankind, see:
- Marie-Louise Eta becomes the first female head coach in men’s top-flight European football
- The Good News for Humankind archive on gender equality
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