Johannesburg - History will be made when four-time World Cup champions Germany take on Costa Rica with a first-ever all-women trio of referees confirmed as officials of a men's Fifa World Cup match.
French referee Stéphanie Frappart has already become the first woman to referee in the men's Champions League, World Cup qualifying, and Ligue 1, and will now break new ground at the 2022 World Cup as part of an all-female refereeing team on Thursday.
Frappart, who has been making huge strides for women officials in the world (mostly in Europe), will lead her assistants Neuza Back of Brazil and Karen Diaz from Mexico.
The 38-year-old is one of three female referees at the global showpiece with Rwanda's Salima Mukansanga representing the African continent and Yoshimi Yamashita of Japan also in Qatar.
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Football fans will remember Frappart as the woman in the middle in an intense Uefa Super Cup clash between English giants Liverpool and Chelsea in 2019.
Back and Diaz are two of six female assistant referees who have been officiating at theWorld Cup in Qatar, a historic number for the tournament.
Although she has refereed several high-profile matches in her homeland, Back's biggest match to date was the 2020 Ffifa Club World Cup final between Bayern Munich and Tigres of Mexico.
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Diaz was certified as a Fifa assistant referee in 2018 and was then given several high-profile assignments at which Fifa officials could observe her.
Her biggest challenges include the Concacaf Under-17 Women’s Championships in Nicaragua in 2018, the Concacaf Under-20 Men’s Championships in Florida the same year, and the Scotiabank Concacaf League in 2020.
IOL Sport