The year 2020 has been on the forefront of social change in politics, science, and even sports. Soccer referee Stéphanie Frappart is evidence of this inclusivity and social progress on the sports field. Frappart played soccer as a teenager, but she decided to quit the sport in 2009, when she was 18, to pursue a career as a referee. Frappart remembers being one of the only women training for the job. In 2011, she began refereeing for the third division of soccer in the Championnat National League in France.
Throughout her successful career, Frappart made history and broke down barriers many times. In 2014, she became the first female referee for Ligue 2 – the second tier – of men’s soccer for the Ligue de Football Professionnel in France. Then in 2015, Stéphanie refereed for the FIFA Women’s World Cup held in Canada, and in 2019 she worked once again as one of the 36 referees for the FIFA Women’s World Cup in France. Later that year, on April 28, 2019, Frappart made history for the second time by becoming the first female referee to work in Ligue 1, the top level of French soccer. Reflecting on her career as one of the top female referees, Frappart says, “It is at the same time a privilege, an honour, and a responsibility.” She feels proud of her accomplishments on the sports front, and she is also delighted by being a symbol of the current social and gender change.
However, Stéphanie’s accomplishments don’t end there. In August of 2019, it was announced that she would referee the 2019 UEFA Super Cup between the English giants Chelsea and Liverpool. The UEFA Super Cup is a soccer game that occurs every year between the top teams of the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Europa League, and her participation demonstrates her proficiency and growing popularity as a referee in professional soccer. Once again, this accomplishment made history; as Frappart became the first female referee to officiate a major men’s soccer game in Europe. Later that year in November, Frappart also officiated part of the Champions Cup, a competition created in 2019 between the champions of the NIFL Premiership and the League of Ireland Premier Division. Despite all of the broken records and accomplishments she had achieved in the past, Stéphanie Frappart’s most important and recent achievement was becoming the first female referee to officiate a UEFA Champions League game between the professional soccer clubs Dynamo Kyiv and Juventus on December 2, 2020.
The 36-year-old referee is said to have been the first female referee to officiate Europe’s most prestigious and high-level soccer events. Her advancements as a referee have turned her into a role model for young, aspiring female athletes around the world. In fact, Stéphanie said, “I hope that my career will encourage young girls to become involved in refereeing.” By breaking ground on the sports front, Frappart is making giant strides for women in sports and refereeing, and her accomplishments add to the progress and fight for diversity.
Works Cited: