STEPHANIE FRAPPART of France made soccer history Tuesday as the the first woman to officiate a men’s World Cup match when she took the field as the fourth official in the game between Mexico and Poland, which saw the former hold the latter to a goalless draw.

Frappart, Japan’s Yamashita Yoshimi and Rwanda’s Salima Mukansanga are the first women selected as referees for soccer’s biggest tournament. They were among the 36 referees for the tournament in Qatar.

Brazil’s Neuza Back, Mexico’s Karen Diaz Medina and American Kathryn Nesbitt are among 69 assistant referees at the World Cup.

Frappart, 38, has broken new ground before as a female referee. She became the first woman to referee a men’s UEFA Champions League game in 2020 when she took charge of Juventus’ match against Dynamo Kyiv.

She has taken charge of games in Ligue 1, the Europa League, men’s World Cup qualifying and the UEFA Supercup final between Chelsea and Liverpool in 2019.

She also handled the 2019 Women’s World Cup final, and refereed this year’s men’s French Cup final.

Meanwhile, Rwandan referee  Mukansanga became the first African woman to officiate a men’s World Cup game when defending champion France defeated Australia 4-1 in the Group D opener Tuesday, at Al Janoub Stadium in Al-Wakrah, Qatar.

Mukansaga, 34, served as the fourth official in the match.

The game saw defending champion France begin its title defense with a convincing victory over Australia thanks to goals from Olivier Giroud, Adrien Rabiot and Kylian Mbappe. Giroud scored twice to surpass Thierry Henry as the team’s all-time leading scorer.

(SD-Agencies)