Rwanda’s Salima Mukansanga part of history as FIFA names Women to referee at World Cup for first time

LAUSANNE, Switzerland, May 19 – Rwanda’s Salima Mukansanga is one of the female match officials appointed as FIFA on Thursday announced women referees will officiate at a men’s World Cup finals for the first time ever at teh Qatar World Cup.

Mukansanga has already made history when in January she became the first ever woman to officiate at the men’s Africa Cup of Nations.

She is one of three female referees appointed by FIFA for Qatar and will also include France’s Stephanie Frappart and Japan’s Yoshimi Yamashita, among the 36 match referees.

Brazil’s Neuza Back, Mexico’s Karen Diaz Medina and American Kathryn Nesbitt have been included in the 69 assistant referees.

“We are very happy that … we have been able to call up female match officials for the first time in the history of a FIFA World Cup,” said FIFA Referees Committee chairman Pierluigi Collina.

“This concludes a long process that began several years ago with the deployment of female referees at FIFA men’s junior and senior tournaments.

“In this way, we clearly emphasise that it is quality that counts for us and not gender. I would hope that in the future, the selection of elite women’s match officials for important men’s competitions will be perceived as something normal and no longer as sensational.”

All match officials for the finals will participate in early summer in seminars in Asuncion, Madrid and Doha.

“We can’t eliminate all mistakes, but we will do everything we can to reduce them,” said Massimo Busacca, FIFA’s Director of Refereeing.