The FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 scheduled from November 21 to December 18 is unique in many ways and the game’s governing body has added colour to the first football showpiece event in the Middle East and the Arab world by appointing women referees for the first time in the tournament’s history.
FIFA recently announced 36 referees, 69 assistant referees and 24 video match officials for the World Cup including three women referees and three women assistant referees. The three referees include Stéphanie Frappart (France), Salima Mukansanga (Rwanda) and Yoshimi Yamashita (Japan). Neuza Back (Brazil), Karen Díaz Medina (Mexico) and Kathryn Nesbitt (USA) will serve as assistant referees.
These women match officials have a rich experience as they have already officiated in men’s games during the World Cup qualifiers, Champions League, Africa Cup of Nations and Summer Olympics games. “This concludes a long process that began several years ago with the deployment of female referees at FIFA men’s junior and senior tournaments. In this way, we clearly emphasise that it is quality that counts for us and not gender,” said chairman of the FIFA Referees Committee Pierluigi Collina.
Qatar Football Association’s efforts to produce quality referees through different programmes were also paid as FIFA named four Qatari match officials for the World Cup. The list includes Abdulrahman Al Jassim, Taleb Al Marri, Saoud Ahmed Al Maqaleh and Abdulla Al Marri. Al Jassim was appointed as one of the 36 referees while Taleb and Al Maqaleh have been named among the 69 assistant referees. Abdulla Al Marri will be among the 24 Video Match Officials. Al Jassim and Taleb will carry their experience of 2018 World Cup, with the former being a Video Match Official at the tournament in Russia, while Taleb was an assistant referee.
FIFA said like always it preferred quality while selecting the match officials, who represent the highest level of refereeing worldwide. The selected match officials will participate in early summer in several seminars (Asunción, Madrid and Doha), reviewing and analysing video clips of real match situations, and taking part in practical training sessions with players, which will be filmed to enable participants to receive instant feedback from the instructors. FIFA aims to do “even better” in Qatar after the 2018 World Cup was very successful, partly because of the high standard of refereeing.
