Australian referees earn World Cup appointments as FIFA confirm female match officials for the first time

Joshua Thomas

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Australian referees earn World Cup appointments as FIFA confirm female match officials for the first time image

While the Socceroos are still trying to secure their spot at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, Australia will at least have some representation in the form of referees. 

FIFA named their shortlist of 36 referees, 69 assistant referees and 24 video match officials on May 20 ahead of the World Cup which begins on November 21. 

Australian Chris Beath has secured the most high-profile appointment having been named as one 36 referees for the tournament. 

Beath, who regularly officiates A-League Men matches, has enjoyed a whirlwind year having also refereed the FIFA Club World Cup final between Chelsea and Palmeiras in February. 

Another A-League Men's regular in the form of Iranian Alirea Faghani has also been named as one of the World Cup's referees. 

Two Aussies will also be making calls from the sidelines in Qatar with Ashley Beecham and Anton Shchetinin both appointed as assistant referees. 

One final Australian in the form of Shaun Evans will have a big say over World Cup matches after being named as one of the VAR officials. 

"As always, the criteria we have used is ‘quality first’ and the selected match officials represent the highest level of refereeing worldwide," chairman of the FIFA Referees Committee, Pierluigi Collina, said.

"The 2018 World Cup was very successful, partly because of the high standard of refereeing, and we will do our best to be even better in a few months in Qatar.

"The pandemic affected our activities, in particular in 2020 and at the beginning of 2021. Luckily, the World Cup was still quite far, and we had enough time to provide the candidates with good preparation.

"We are announcing these selections well in advance as we want to work even harder with all those who have been appointed for the FIFA World Cup, monitoring them in the next months.

"The message is clear: don’t rest on your laurels, keep working hard and prepare yourselves very seriously for the World Cup." 

Along with the handful of Aussies, six women have also earned match official roles for the 2022 World Cup. 

This marks the first time female referees will officiate at a men's FIFA World Cup. 

“We are very happy that with Stéphanie Frappart from France, Salima Mukansanga from Rwanda and Yoshimi Yamashita from Japan, as well as assistant referees Neuza Back from Brazil, Karen Díaz Medina from Mexico and Kathryn Nesbitt from the USA, we have been able to call up female match officials for the first time in the history of a FIFA World Cup," Collina said. 

"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.

"They deserve to be at the FIFA World Cup because they constantly perform at a really high level, and that’s the important factor for us."

Joshua Thomas

Joshua Thomas Photo

Josh has been covering sport for nearly a decade now having fallen in love with football at a young age. A UTS graduate, Josh has previously worked for GOAL and now covers football closely for The Sporting News.