Female referees to officiate at men’s World Cup for the first time Three female referees and three female assistants selected

Female referees will make World Cup history this year in Qatar by officiating at a major men’s tournament for the first time. Female officials have never worked at a major men’s tournament.

Three female referees and three female assistant referees were announced on Thursday by Fifa among 129 officials selected for World Cup duty, including one man who caused controversy when refereeing a chaotic African Cup of Nations game in January while suffering with heatstroke - reports The Guardian.

The 69 assistant referees include Neuza Back of Brazil, Karen Díaz Medina of Mexico and Kathryn Nesbitt of the United States.

“As always, the criteria we have used is quality first and the selected match officials represent the highest level of refereeing worldwide,” said Fifa referees committee chairman Pierluigi Collina, who oversaw the 2002 World Cup final. “In this way, we clearly emphasise that it is quality that counts for us and not gender.

Among the male referees is Janny Sikazwe of Zambia, who blew the final whistle at an Africa Cup of Nations group match after 85 minutes and again 13 seconds before the 90 minutes were complete, with Mali leading Tunisia 1-0. About 30 minutes after the match, officials ordered the teams back on the field to restart play, but Tunisia refused. The result was ratified by the Confederation of African Football despite an official protest by Tunisia