Football’s world governing body said that among the 750 candidates, only 56 referees and 100 assistant referees are being selected to officiate at the ninth edition of the FIFA Women’s World Cup, to be co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand from July 10 to August 20, 2023.
Making the shortlist represents the beginning of an over two-year process to finally being named on the list of officials for the 2023 tournament, during which shortlisted candidates are required to fulfil a range of FIFA criteria.
To make quality choices for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, FIFA called for support from member associations for shortlisted referees and assistant referees, expecting them to appoint the candidates to officiate in the men’s and women’s football matches at the highest level in each country.
Member associations are also encouraged to create conditions for the shortlisted individuals to participate in training and development programmes for referees and assistant referees.
In addition, FIFA has also issued a number of requests for the candidates, including the weekly use of a communication platform to provide information about the matches in which they officiate, seminars and training courses they attend, as well as injuries or special issues that could affect their fitness to work. The shortlisted referees and assistant referees also have to meet FIFA’s monthly fitness requirements.
In the next step, FIFA regularly sends reports to national federations to see the progress of the candidates and to notify the national federations if their representatives do not meet the requirements set forth.
In 2021, the Vietnam Football Federation plans to continue organising national women’s football tournaments and also hopes to add two futsal events - the national women’s futsal championship and the women’s futsal national cup. Thus, there will be a lot of opportunities for female match officials, especially referee Bui Thi Thu Trang and assistant referee Truong Thi Le Trinh, to officiate in national competitions.
