Jamaican Stephanie Yee-Sing has been chosen to officiate at a second FIFA Women’s World Cup.
FIFA named her as one of 55 assistant referees as it unveiled a list of 107 match officials for the July 20-August 20 tournament in Australia and New Zealand, that also includes 33 referees, support referees, and 19 video match officials (VMOs).
Yee-Sing had been shortlisted along with compatriots Princess Brown – who she also officiated with at the 2019 World Cup in France – Odette Hamilton and Jasette Kerr.
“I am overjoyed,” said Yee-Sing. “We work hard every day with the hope of representing our country at these major tournaments. Rubbing shoulders with the best and running with elite players has always been my dream since I began.”
The Jamaica Football Federation issued a statement congratulating Yee-Sing on her accomplishment, and president Michael Ricketts said she deserved it.
“Stephanie should serve as inspiration to all the officials in Jamaica,” he said. “She along with some of the other female officials has been training and operating at world-class levels for a while. It’s great to see Stephanie getting the rewards she so richly deserves. We hope that she will serve as a catalyst and inspiration to other ladies and gentlemen officials to work hard as the sky is the limit.”
In a FIFA statement, Chairman of the FIFA Referees Committee, Pierluigi Collina said the selected on-field match officials “represent the highest level of refereeing worldwide”.
“They have been chosen in close cooperation with the six confederations, based on the officials’ quality and the performances delivered at FIFA tournaments as well as at other international and domestic competitions in recent years,” FIFA added. “For the first time in the history of the FIFA Women’s World Cup, six female VMOs have also been selected.”
Collina added: “We all remember the very successful FIFA Women’s World Cup 2019 in France. The high standard of refereeing contributed significantly to that success. The aim for the FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia & New Zealand 2023 is to repeat that success and to convince again with excellent referees’ performances.”
During the first two months of the year, Stephanie Yee-Sing and the other selected match officials will participate in preparatory seminars in Doha and Montevideo, reviewing and analysing video clips of real match situations and taking part in practical training sessions with players, which will be filmed to enable participants to receive instant feedback from instructors.
CMC/
