Consolation prize for Stéphanie Frappart? Not selected to officiate at the Euro, two years after officiating at the 2022 World Cup, the French referee will be on the whistle for the final of the Greek Cup between Panathinaikos and Aris FC, on May 25 in Volos (center) , the Hellenic Football Federation announced on Tuesday.
“For the first time in the history of the Greek Cup, a woman will referee the last match of the competition,” the federation said in a press release. The match will be played without supporters in order to avoid disturbances to public order in a country where clashes between hooligans are recurrent.
Stéphanie Frappart was named the best female referee in the world at the beginning of January for the fifth consecutive time by the International Federation of Football History and Statistics (FIHFS). A true pioneer, the 40-year-old official was the first woman to referee a men’s World Cup final phase, at the end of 2022 in Qatar, but she was not selected for Euro 2024 which will be played this summer in Germany ( June 14 – July 14).
In Greece, the appointment of foreign referees has become a recurring practice for high-stakes matches, in a context undermined by violence and corruption.