A 140-point margin separates the 2019 world's best woman referee, Stephanie Frappart, from the rest of the pack in the IFFHS Awards.

Twenty-seven referees had the honor to officiate group matches at the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup in France. Eleven were worthy enough to continue their efforts through the elimination stages. And only one made it to the biggest stage in Lyon, the FIFA Women's World Cup Final, on July 7.

Stephanie Frappart, 35, officiated the final between the United States and the Netherlands. That moment propelled her to be voted the World's Best Woman Referee in the annual IFFHS Awards on Monday. Ninety experts and journalists from around the globe placed their votes and the results called for Frappart by a landslide. Frappart, who finished in third place last year, left a 140-point gap between her and Russian referee, Anastasia Pustovoitova. The French is now the successor of the award from the four-time winner, Bibiana Steinhouse.


Frappart broke the ice in her home country, France, in 2014 by becoming the first female official to take charge of a League 2 match. She went on to represent France in the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup in Canada. Then came the 2019 Women's World Cup after again making history by taking command of League 1 matches in the 2018-19 season. But that wasn't her last step in the spotlight.

Like plenty of times before, Frappart broke the chains to forbidden lands on August 14, 2019. This time, she set foot on the Besiktas Park pitch in Istanbul to become the first woman referee to take charge of a major UEFA men's competition event, the 2019 UEFA Super Cup. And like many referees, it was her time to have a rough night under the floodlights.

The bittersweet moment came after 120 minutes of smahsmouth football being topped by two extra-time goals making this game one to remember. It came in the match's climax, the penalty shootout.

Liverpool's second-string goalkeeper and former Hammer, Adrian, denied Chelsea's Tammy Abraham's penalty to extend the Reds' reign as European Champions. It turns out Adrian committed the crime of stepping off his line before Abraham's foot struck the ball. A crime often committed, but unacceptable under the then brand new VAR system.

Was it Frappart's fault? Was it the VAR officials fault? Nonetheless, this was just a small blemish in such an illustrious career. At least, that's what the majority of the 90 experts and journalists concluded.