Female Referees Set To officiate at Men's World Cup for the First Time in History

The first-ever World Cup was held in 1930, so this may be hard to believe: Not once has a woman officiated a World Cup game. Well, all that’s about to change this year.

Three female referees have been selected to be part of the prestigious World Cup referee team. In what should be seen as a huge breakthrough for gender equality in football, Stephanie Frappart of France, Salima Mukansanga of Rwanda, and Yhosimi Yamashita of Japan have all been selected to referee in Qatar 2022. The three women will also be joined by a group of female assistant referees.

“They deserve to be at the Fifa World Cup because they constantly perform at a really high level, and that’s the important factor for us,” said Pierluigi Collina, the head of refereeing.

As it stands right now, Brazil is the favorite to bring home the World Cup trophy. They are currently sitting at +450 on various New Jersey Online Casinos such as DraftKings Sportsbook. France and England are right being them at +600, and Spain and Argentina round out the top five at +750.

This news comes at the same time as the news of the United States Women's National Team players receiving equal pay as their counterparts–the US Men’s National Team. All in all, this is a historic week for gender equality in football, and it sets up for what should be a historic World Cup.