Female referees will make World Cup history in Qatar this year by officiating for the first time at a major men's tournament, the global football body FIFA announced Thursday.
Three female referees and three female assistant referees will be part of the global showpiece event in Qatar, which will be held from Nov. 21 to Dec. 18.
Referees Stephanie Frappart from France, Salima Mukansanga from Rwanda and Japan's Yoshimi Yamashita, as well as assistant referees Neuza Back from Brazil, Karen Diaz Medina from Mexico and American Kathryn Nesbitt, have all been called up.
A total of 36 referees, 69 assistant referees and 24 video match officials have been chosen by FIFA for the tournament.
"This concludes a long process that began several years ago with the deployment of female referees at FIFA men's junior and senior tournaments," said Pierluigi Collina, FIFA Referees Committee chairman.
"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.
"As always, the criteria we have used is 'quality first' and the selected match officials represent the highest level of refereeing worldwide."
Frappart became the first female official to be involved in European Championship matches after UEFA included her in the list of referees for the tournament last year.
Among 129 officials selected for World Cup duty, including Zambia's Janny Sikazwe who caused controversy when refereeing a chaotic African Cup of Nations game in January while suffering from heatstroke.
He blew the final whistle at an African Cup 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 later ratified by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) despite an official protest by Tunisia.
The match was played in heat and humidity in Cameroon, and Sikazwe later explained he started to become confused in the intense conditions.
Sikazwe will be working at his second World Cup after handling two group games at the 2018 tournament in Russia.
The extreme heat in Qatar led FIFA to decide in 2015 to move the tournament to the cooler months in the Gulf emirate.