Stéphanie Frappart (born 14 December 1983) is a French

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

referee A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other titl ...

. She has been on the

FIFA International Referees List The FIFA International Referees List is an annual publication of the global list of FIFA international referees in the football-variants controlled by the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) – association football (outdoor ...

since 2009, and has refereed several high-profile matches. She became the first woman to referee a major men's European match and a French

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...

match, both in 2019, and the first woman to officiate a

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

match in 2020. In 2021, Frappart became the first woman to take charge of a men's World Cup qualifying match. In 2022, she was one of the three women referees selected to officiate at the men's World Cup, before she became the first woman to referee a men's World Cup match in an all-female referee team.

Career

Frappart grew up in

Herblay-sur-Seine Herblay-sur-Seine (, literally ''Herblay on Seine''; before 2018: ''Herblay'') is a commune in the department of Val-d'Oise, France. It is located from the center of Paris, in its northwest suburbs. It is twinned with Yeovil, UK. Geography Cl ...

and began refereeing youth games at the age of 13. By the time she was 18, she was already refereeing national u19 games. In 2011, Frappart began to referee matches in the

Championnat National The Championnat de France National ( en, French National Championship), commonly referred to as simply National or Division 3, serves as the third division of the French football league system behind Ligue 1 and Ligue 2. Contested by 18 clubs, t ...

, the third division of men's

football in France Association football is the most popular sport in France. The French Football Federation (FFF, Fédération Française de Football) is the national governing body and is responsible for overseeing all aspects of association football in the cou ...

. In 2014, Frappart became the first woman to referee in

Ligue 2 Ligue 2 (, League 2), also known as Ligue 2 BKT due to sponsor (commercial), sponsorship by Balkrishna Industries, is a French professional football league. The league serves as the second division of French football and is one of two divisions ...

, the second tier of

professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the particular knowledge and skil ...

men's football in France. She served as a referee at the

2015 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup was the seventh FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international soccer championship contested by the women's national teams of the member associations of FIFA. The tournament was hosted by Canada for the ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. On 3 December 2018, Frappart was appointed to officiate in the

2019 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup was the eighth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international Women's association football championship contested by 24 women's national teams representing member associations of FIFA. It ...

in France. After the conclusion of the round of 16, it was announced that Frappart had been selected as one of 11 officials that would be retained for the remainder of the tournament. Frappart would go on to be appointed to referee the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

of the tournament which was contested on 7 July 2019 between the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. In April 2019, it was announced that she would become the first female referee in

, with her first game coming on 28 April 2019, when she officiated a game between

SC Amiens Amiens Sporting Club (; commonly referred to as Amiens SC or simply Amiens) is a French association football club based in the northern city of Amiens in the Hauts-de-France region. The club was formed in 1901 and play in Ligue 2, the second ...

and

RC Strasbourg Racing Club de Strasbourg Alsace (commonly known as RC Strasbourg, Racing Straßburg, RCSA, RCS, or simply Strasbourg; Alsatian: ''Füeßbàllmànnschàft Vu Stroßburri'') is a French association football club founded in 1906, based in the c ...

. On 2 August 2019, Frappart was appointed to referee the

2019 UEFA Super Cup The 2019 UEFA Super Cup was the 44th edition of the UEFA Super Cup, an annual football match organised by UEFA and contested by the reigning champions of the two main European club competitions, the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Europa Leag ...

between

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

and

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

. In doing so she became the first woman to officiate in a major men's European match. On 11 November 2019, Frappart officiated the second leg of the inaugural Champions Cup competition, between the league winners of the

League of Ireland Premier Division The League of Ireland Premier Division ( ga, Príomhroinn Sraith na hÉireann), also known as the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division for sponsorship reasons, is the top level division in both the League of Ireland and the Republic of Ireland f ...

and the NIFL Premiership. The match saw the Republic of Ireland's champions Dundalk F.C., Dundalk beat Northern Ireland's champions Linfield F.C., Linfield 6–0, with Frappart showing two yellow cards. On 2 December 2020, she became the first woman to referee a

match, between Juventus F.C., Juventus and FC Dynamo Kyiv, Dynamo Kyiv. In March 2021, Frappart officiated the second leg of the UEFA Women's Champions League match between Atlético Madrid Femenino, Atlético Madrid and Chelsea F.C. Women, Chelsea. Later that month, she became the first woman to officiate a 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification (UEFA), FIFA World Cup qualifier, in a match between the Netherlands national football team, Netherlands and Latvia national football team, Latvia. On 7 May 2022, she was the referee for the 2022 Coupe de France Final between OGC Nice, Nice and FC Nantes, Nantes. On 19 May 2022, she was selected for the officiating pool at the 2022 FIFA World Cup. On 1 December 2022, she became the first woman to referee a men's FIFA World Cup match when she officiated the match between Costa Rica national football team, Costa Rica and Germany national football team, Germany.

Awards

* IFFHS World's Best Referee#Women's winners, IFFHS World's Best Woman Referee: 2019, 2020, 2021

References

External links

Profile
at WorldFootball.net
Stéphanie Frappart {{DEFAULTSORT:Frappart, Stephanie Living people 1983 births Sportspeople from Val-d'Oise People from Le Plessis-Bouchard French football referees FIFA Women's World Cup referees 2022 FIFA World Cup referees FIFA World Cup referees Women association football referees French women referees and umpires FIFA Women's World Cup Final match officials UEFA Women's Euro 2022 referees