Stephanie Frappart, a 36 year old French woman has entered history books as the woman to referee a men’s UEFA Champions League match.
Frappart took charge of Juventus’ Group G match against Dynamo Kiev in Turin where juventus won by 3-0, with Federico Chiesa, Cristiano Ronaldo and Alvaro Morata securing the goals victory.
Yesterday’s game was Frappart’s second history setting game after she became the first female referee to officiate a major men’s European final when she took charge of the UEFA Super Cup final between Liverpool and Chelsea in September, 2019.
She also became the first female referee to take charge of a French Ligue 1 match when Amiens played Strasbourg in April last year.
In October, Frappart still looked after her first Europa League game when Leicester City hosted Ukrainian side Zorya Luhansk.
Speaking after the Super Cup in Istanbul, Frappart told journalists that it was a pretty special feeling when she walked out in the stadium and the crowd were actually cheering for her citing that she had never experienced that and in such a big match.
“In the warm-up I looked around and I was like, the other teams aren’t here so they have to be cheering for me,when you looked up at the crowd, I normally don’t engage with the crowd.They were looking at us and a few were waving and giving us thumbs up and congratulations. I thought that was pretty special,” she said.
Frappart has been on the FIFA international referees list since 2009 where she,except the Wednesday EUFA Champions League game has refereed several other high profile matches.
