The world of football needs no new introduction to Stephanie Frappart. As the current best female referee, Frappart is making history and records one after another. She holds the record for being the first female referee to officiate in a World Cup match. This came after a plethora of records she had met since her career as a referee started at the young age of 13 years. Now, she is ready to make another record by becoming the first-ever female referee to officiate in a men’s international match at the historic Wembley Stadium.
England is set to play Italy in the UEFA Euro qualifiers game at the Wembley Stadium on 18th October. They will play against Australia in an international friendly before that on 14th October at the same stadium. Stephanie Frappart who has been making history by creating more and more records every year it’s set to officiate this match. She will make another record by becoming the first-ever female referee at the Wembley Stadium to have officiated in a men’s international match.
The last time Frappart made such a record was last year when she officiated during the World Cup in Qatar. She first made history by becoming the first female in the history of the men’s World Cup to have served as the fourth official. Frappart did it during another group stage match between Mexico and Poland which ended in a draw. She then officiated Germany’s 4-2 win against Costa Rica in the group-stage match. That was the very first time a female referee officiated in a men’s World Cup match.
Frappart then made history by leading an all-female team of referees during another group-stage match between Germany and Costa Rica. The all-female referees’ team included Mexican Karen Diaz Medina and Brazilian Neuza Back. These were neither her only nor her first few records in her career. She has been serving as a referee since 13 years of age. Frappart was recognised by FIFA back in 2009. She started refereeing in men’s football in France’s third-division league in 2011 and started making history from there.
In 3 years, she got promoted and became the first female referee to officiate in Ligue 2. She was then called up to officiate in the Women’s World Cup in 2015 in Canada along with a few more female officials. Frappart made another record in 2019 to become the first female referee. It happened as she got promoted to officiate in France’s top-flight competition, Ligue 1. She was called up for the Women’s World Cup another time in the same year that was hosted in France.
Frappart even officiated in the final of the 2019 Women’s World Cup. She was also picked for the men’s UEFA Super Cup. With that, she became the first female official to officiate a men’s European competition game. Following that, she made another record when she officiated the men’s Champions League group stage match between Juventus and Dynamo Kyiv. Before she made history by officiating in the men’s World Cup in 2022, she officiated the Coupe de France final in May the same year between Nice and Nantes.
