The “pioneer” will disappear from radar during the summer. Stéphanie Frappart, the first woman to officiate at a men’s international match, is not selected by UEFA for Euro 2024 (June 14 – July 14) in Germany, nor by Fifa for the Paris Olympic Games 2024 (July 26 – August 11). A hard blow for the 40-year-old referee, who had nevertheless been selected for the men’s and women’s World Cups, in 2022 in Qatar and in 2023 in Australia and New Zealand. She also participated in two Olympic Games, in Rio (Brazil) in 2016 and Tokyo (Japan) in 2021.
For Euro 2024, France will be represented by François Letexier and Clément Turpin, each surrounded by their deputies. France also places two video emissaries with Jérôme Brisard and Willy Delajod. Choices communicated by UEFA this Tuesday April 23. For the Paris Olympics, the decision fell to Fifa, which designated François Letexier, his deputies (Cyril Mugnier and Mehdi Rahmouni) and Jérôme Brisard as French participants at the beginning of April.
For Stéphanie Frappart, her absence from the Games is not a surprise. Fifa applies a principle of turnover and takes advantage of Olympic tournaments to “test” the promises of arbitration. Only one (the Japanese Yoshimi Yamashita) was already present in Tokyo in 2021 out of the 21 main referees appointed by Fifa. Furthermore, the world body does not suffer from a lack of female referees: 8 will be present among the 21. We are not yet at parity but we are getting closer.
99 referees, 0 women
At UEFA, this point raises questions. 19 main referees have been appointed (18 Europeans and 1 Argentinian) and none is a woman. Among the 99 officials (referees, assistants, videos and fourths), there are none either. The Swede Tess Olofsson, referee of the final of the Women’s Nations League between Spain and France (2-0) and regularly called up in the men’s competitions in Sweden, could hope to be there, in the same way as the Englishwoman Rebecca Welch or Stéphanie Frappart. Especially since the Frenchwoman had officiated during Euro 2021 in England.
VIDEO. When Stéphanie Frappart became the first woman to referee a match at the World Cup in Qatar
“Euro 2024 is the pinnacle of European national teams. This is why we have summoned the best referees to direct these matches,” explains Roberto Rosetti, UEFA’s chief refereeing officer. Understand therefore that Stéphanie Frappart did not have a sufficiently satisfactory season in the eyes of the European body. A downgrade which is confirmed in the figures: in 2022-2023, Val-d’Oisienne took part in ten European meetings (clubs and selections) compared to two this season only.
Less present in Ligue 1
In French competitions too, Stéphanie Frappart is less present. In Ligue 1, she officiated 20 days last year. She has only made 12 this season and will stop at a maximum of 17 if she is selected in the last five days. “They only swear by performance (at UEFA), explains Éric Borghini, president of the FFF arbitration commission with RMC Sport. They do not want to take risks with their flagship competition. »
Before specifying that “Stéphanie has undoubtedly not had her best season, but not seeing her as the fourth referee or even at the VAR is disappointing. » And a very bad signal sent to the world regarding the objective stated by UEFA itself to encourage the arrival of women in this world of refereeing.
