Stéphanie Frappart makes history as first female World Cup referee for Germany v Costa Rica

ITV News Reporter Chloe Keedy reports on the significance of Stéphanie Frappart becoming the first woman to referee a men's World Cup game

French referee Stéphanie Frappart became the first woman to take charge of a men’s World Cup game on Thursday as she officiated the hotly contested clash between Germany and Costa Rica.

Frappart, 38, was joined by assistant referees - Brazil's Neuza Back and Mexico's Karen Diaz Medina - to complete an all-female refereeing team on the field at Al Bayt Stadium in Qatar.

Kathryn Nesbitt of the United States was also working at the stadium as the offside specialist in the video review team.

Frappart - who took charge of the 2019 Women’s World Cup final for FIFA - has refereed men’s games in World Cup qualifying and the Champions League, and this year’s men’s French Cup final.

She has already broken new ground in Qatar, having last week become the first female fourth official in the men’s competition.

The 38-year-old played football between the age of 10 and 13 in Herblay-sur-Seine before changing path to become a referee, and now has risen to wider prominence for her part in the historic sporting first.

FIFA has two other women, Salima Mukansanga of Rwanda and Yoshimi Yamashita of Japan, on its list to referee games at the tournament in Qatar.

The group E clash saw Germany fail to qualify for the knockout stages for the second World Cup in a row, despite routing Costa Rica 4-2.

It came after Japan shocked Spain with a 2-1 win allowing them to top the group.

Although Germany and Spain both finished the group-stage on four points, the latter progressed as runners-up owing to a better goal difference.

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