Anxiety? No, said Stéphanie Frappart, she didn’t have it. You train a lot and always be ready. Furthermore, referees are the same, football is the same and the rules are the same. Nothing will change for them. Not even before big games with a particularly large audience.
Frappart is used to the hustle and bustle around her person. However, in the days leading up to August 14, 2019, attention had reached a whole new level. The Frenchwoman was the first woman to lead a major international match in men’s professional football, the Uefa Supercup final between Champions League winners Liverpool FC and Europa League winners Chelsea FC. This Wednesday, it is moving forward once more in an exemplary and historical manner.
If Juventus Turin and superstar Cristiano Ronaldo meet Dynamo Kiev in the Champions League, Frappart will be on the pitch as referee. Before her, no woman has taken on this role in the highest international club competition in men’s football. In 2020 she was also in action in the Europa League and Nations League.
And last year, before the game between Liverpool and Chelsea, they reappeared: questions about fear that a Stéphan would not be asked in this form. But Stéphanie does, because her performance is given social significance. The 36-year-old knows that herself, of course. She is one of the few women who has taken a firm place in global football – and therefore an important role model.
2019 marks a very decisive year. Five weeks before the Supercup final, Frappart also directed the final of the Women’s World Cup in her home country. And in April she was appointed to the top French men’s league for the first time and as the first woman. In addition to the German Bibiana Steinhaus, 41, she was the only woman to whistle in the top European men’s leagues. Steinhaus made her Bundesliga debut in 2017, but ended her career on the pitch this September. “I see this as a real recognition of my competence and my work,” said Frappart at the time. “It also shows all girls what is possible when you work hard and commit yourself to something.”
It should inspire many women to take a similar path
Frappart convinced with their performance. Over and over again. With a height of 1.64 meters and a rather petite figure, she may seem inconspicuous at first glance. But she exudes authority, is considered extremely competent, physically in top shape and mentally very strong. She is clearly respected and valued. The fact that, as has been the case with women for years, it is now regularly taken into account by men for big games is an important sign. It should inspire many to take a similar path. Even if not quite as straightforward as Frappart’s.
She started playing soccer as a child and wanted to know the rules of this sport very well. So she dealt intensively with it and began training as a referee at an early age. At 19 she whistled her first men’s games, then in the seventh division, and worked her way up from there. For women, she has been nominated for the important tournaments since 2015. In 2014, at the age of just 30, Frappart started in the second, and at 35 in the first French men’s division. Conducting a group game in the prestigious Champions League is the next step in her already remarkable career as a referee, based on her experience in 2019.
And in the best case scenario, Stéphanie Frappart contributes to the fact that the question of whether they are afraid of men’s games does not even arise for other women in the future.
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