Stéphanie Frappart to referee Spain-Netherlands quarter final
The 39-year-old French match official will be assisted by her compatriots Manuela Nicolosi and Elodie Coppola. She was the first woman to oversee a match in a men’s World Cup.
French match official Stéphanie Frappart has been designated to be in charge of refereeing the Women’s World Cup quarter final between Spain and the Netherlands on Thursday at the Sky Stadium in Wellington, New Zealand. Frappart, 39, will be assisted by her compatriots - line officials Manuela Nicolosi and Elodie Coppola, while Italian Maria Sole Ferrieri Caputi will act as fourth referee.
Frappart made history by becoming the first woman to referee a match in a final phase of a men’s World Cup. She was in charge of the match between Costa Rica and Germany in the third and final day of Group E on 1 December 2022.
In addition, Frappart has achieved many milestones for women in men’s football, being the first to officiate a match in the French Ligue 1 (Amiens vs Strasbourg in April 2019), a European Super Cup final (Liverpool vs Chelsea in 2019), an official national team match (2020), a Champions League match (2020) or a French Cup final (2022).
This will be her fourth appearance at the 2023 Women’s World Cup. She was in charge of two group games (Switzerland vs Norway and Canada vs Australia) and the Round of 16 clash between Sweden and the United States in which she famously signalled that Lina Hurtig’s decisive penalty had crossed the line in the shootout.