Who was the first female referee to officiate a men's FIFA World Cup match?

Stéphanie Frappart was the first female referee to officiate a men’s FIFA World Cup match.

The French official made history on 1 December 2022, when she refereed Costa Rica’s group-stage match against Germany at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Germany won 4–2, but the match’s wider significance was Frappart’s breakthrough as the first woman to serve as the central referee in a men’s World Cup game.

Frappart was one of three women referees selected for the tournament, alongside Rwanda’s Salima Mukansanga and Japan’s Yoshimi Yamashita. Frappart’s appointment followed several earlier milestones: she became the first woman to referee in France’s Ligue 2 in 2014, Ligue 1 in 2019, and a UEFA Champions League match in 2020.

The wording matters because assistant referees and other match officials have different roles. Frappart was the referee in charge of the match itself, leading an all-female officiating team that also included assistant referees Neuza Back and Karen Díaz Medina.