Of all the summer competitions in recent years, French international referee Stephanie Frappart expects to experience a unique Women's World Cup, more significant than her first in Canada in 2015 or her second in France in 2019. "I have very good memories of the previous one, because it was in France and with the beautiful final in Lyon. We have seen a great boom in women's football between 2015 and 2019; we can expect even more play, intensity, and emotions for 2023. It's a busy season for me, like many of the previous ones. Since 2020, I have attended the Euro (men's 2021), the Olympic Games in Tokyo (2021), the Women’s Euro last year... My summers are devoted to major competitions but, frankly, we can't wait to be at this one. When we see that 80,000 people are going to attend the opening match, it means that we have reached another milestone. We had already seen it last year with the Women’s Euro in England, where it was phenomenal, but it will go even further.”
"It's quite an organization. You have to know yourself, listen to your body and plan everything. I am more in anticipation than in reaction, so I try to plan all this to be in the best condition. We have already experienced working together at the Euro. It's good because it puts more confidence, cohesion, and osmosis in the team. But the challenge is to be efficient, so to know how to say things to each other, when it's going well and when it's not going well so that we can be competitive when people are waiting for us on that side. It is a new experience at the level of a World Cup, including living together. When you are a bit the leader of the team, you have to manage all that, manage the blows of less well situations or better moments at certain times. Spending 50 days abroad is not necessarily easy when it comes to your first competition. With the experience of England, where it went well, there is no doubt about it.”
“I remember a great organization in Qatar and a great event with lots of people in the stadiums. The competition itself was magnificent in terms of play and a great respect between the players. There were very few red cards, it was a very fair World Cup. We have seen magnificent exploits from certain teams and that is the beauty of football: not being able to expect who will win. As it was concentrated in one city or so, I was able to watch 12 matches in the stadiums, while I had never watched any before in my life in these conditions. We witnessed two quarter-finals, going from Croatia-Brazil to Netherlands-Argentina, half an hour later in another stadium, it was fabulous.”
“At the Federation, I am the delegated director of women's refereeing part-time, to keep my referee part on the field. My role is both the development and promotion of refereeing, but also the structuring of a sector that is beginning to be semi-professional. My objective is to structure it well to support and put female referees in the best conditions, so that they perform well on the pitch. There are more and more resources and investments made by the Federation and we will end up with more and more efficient referees because we will support them as well as possible. I have been sharing my experience for a long time, I make sure to help them, to analyze their matches and to accompany them. It also helps me on my side to gain a little more confidence and assurance. It is important to share my experience.”
Source: FFF
