Stephanie Frappart reached another milestone on Saturday when she became the first female referee to take charge of a men’s World Cup qualifier during the Netherlands’ 2-0 win over Latvia in Amsterdam.
Steven Berghuis and Luuk de Jong scored either side of halftime as the Netherlands got their 2022 Qatar World Cup qualifying hopes back on track after a shock 4-2 loss to Turkey in their opening match.
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Earlier in December, Frenchwoman Frappart became the first female official to take charge of a men’s Champions League match when Italian champions Juventus defeated Ukrainian club Dynamo Kiev 3-0 in the group stage in Turin.
She also refereed the Super Cup match between Liverpool and Chelsea in 2019, and the women’s World Cup final between the United States and the Netherlands the same year.
Before the game on Saturday, the Netherlands wore T-shirts emblazoned with the words “Football supports change,” in an apparent statement about human rights in World Cup host Qatar.
Defender Matthijs de Ligt had said ahead of the match that the Dutch team wanted to make a statement about the human rights situation in Qatar, saying “it’s a very difficult situation with workers’ rights there.”
Similar protests were conducted by Germany and Norway before their games with both sides wearing T-shirts that made references to human rights.
