The feminisation of refereeing continues unabated. After the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, where France’s Stéphanie Frappart made history by becoming the first woman to referee a World Cup match, the next Asian Nations Cup will reinforce the trend. On Thursday 14 September, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) announced that it had selected five women referees for the next edition of the continental tournament, scheduled for 2024 in Qatar. Among them is Japan’s Yoshimi Yamashita (pictured above), who was already a member of the refereeing panel at last year’s 2022 World Cup. The 2024 Asian Cup of Nations (January 12 to February 10) will also see the use of video-assisted refereeing (VAR) for the first time in the tournament.
