AP Interview: Trailblazing referee Frappart wants to help more women take the whistle

PARIS (AP) — After a decade of making history in soccer, French referee Stéphanie Frappart is using her experience to help more women take up the profession.

Frappart was the first woman to referee a men’s Ligue 1 game in France and the first woman to referee a men’s World Cup match.

The 41-year-old Frappart is working with France's national postal service, La Poste, on a committee promoting female referees called “Women and Refereeing" in conjunction with its four partner federations: soccer, rugby, handball and basketball. Their ambition is to increase female match officials in all sports in France, which currently has an estimated 80-20 split for male refs.

“It starts with a change in mentality. Football is played more by men and maybe in handball it's equal. So to begin with you have to increase the numbers of women playing football, which in turn increases the number of referees,” Frappart told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. “Last season, we had a 14% increase compared with the season before and now, halfway through the season, we already have 5% more female referees than last season.”

Frappart says the French soccer federation is fully committed to having more female refs and to more women in the sport's governance. But La Poste's committee says the main barriers facing aspiring female referees at the outset are lingering sexism and misogyny.

“We remain confronted by certain stereotypes which are difficult to get beyond ... something still anchored in certain cultures and mentalities," Frappart said. "We have to communicate more on the place women have in football and in society. In media terms, the more women's soccer is shown on television and the more women's sport is shown on television, that will change things.”

Frappart was also the first woman to take charge of a men’s Champions League match, back in 2020. Across more than a decade officiating in men’s games — including the French Cup final and World Cup qualifiers — has Frappart received sexist comments?

“Not from players and coaches, but from people in the stands,” she said. “There have been some chants and comments.”

Frappart became the first woman to take charge of a professional men's game when she refereed a second-tier French league match in 2014.

Others were more worried that day than she was.

“For me it was a normal progression. It didn’t make me feel particularly emotional. But I remember one of the directors from (soccer club) Brest who asked me ‘Are you not too stressed?’" she recalled. "I replied ‘Well, actually it’s not my first game.’ It was a higher level match, but not my first.”

Five years later, Frappart took charge of a top-tier game between Amiens and Strasbourg.

Her ascension continued when she refereed Germany vs. Costa Rica in 2022 at the men's World Cup in Qatar. She said the context of the tournament shielded her from the impact this was having back home.

“I know in France there was a lot of excitement. But (in Qatar) we were more protected in terms of the media, because I was far away and not in my country. We were in a bubble,” she explained. “The moment which had more impact, where you realized the importance of the game, was in Ligue 1. You turned the TV on and you were on it."

There was another first for Frappart when she headed a trio of female officials for a Ligue 1 game in 2023, along with lineswomen Manuela Nicolosi and Élodie Coppola. Later that year, Rebecca Welch became the first female referee in the Premier League.

Frappart is optimistic women's soccer will continue gathering pace.

Last Sunday, U.S. defender Naomi Girma became the first women's million-dollar transfer when she moved from San Diego Wave to Chelsea.

It's far from the men's record 222 million euros ($231 million) Paris Saint-Germain paid for Neymar; and Girma's salary won't be anything near what Erling Haaland receives from Manchester City after signing a 10-year deal.

Frappart sees it differently.

“You shouldn't compare what happens in women's soccer and in men's soccer, they are two separate entities with a different economy. But what I would say is that it's good that transfers like these are starting to happen," Frappart said. “It's a positive evolution which shows there are human and financial measures for the development of women's soccer. Some years ago there were no contracts and the players were still amateurs. Now there is genuine progression, we must push for this to continue.”

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

FILE -Referee Stephanie Frappart cheers with Netherlands' Matthijs de Ligt at the end of the World Cup 2022 group G qualifying soccer match between The Netherlands and Latvia at the Johan Cruyff ArenA in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Saturday, March 27, 2021. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong, File)

FILE - Referee Stephanie Frappart in action during during the World Cup group E soccer match between Costa Rica and Germany at the Al Bayt Stadium in Al Khor, Qatar, Thursday, Dec. 1, 2022. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader, File)

FILE - Assistant referee Michelle O'Neill of Ireland, left, referee Stephanie Frappart of France, center, and assistant referee Manuela Nicolosi of France pose for a picture before the start of the UEFA Super Cup soccer match between Liverpool and Chelsea, in Besiktas Park, in Istanbul, Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2019. (AP Photo, File)

FILE -Dynamo Kyiv's Illya Zabarnyi gets a yellow card from referee Stephanie Frappart during a Champions League, group G soccer match between Juventus and Dinamo Kiev at the Allianz Stadium in Turin, Italy, Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2020. (Marco Alpozzi/LaPresse via AP, File)

FILE - Referee Stephanie Frappart talks to Costa Rica's players during the World Cup group E soccer match between Costa Rica and Germany at the Al Bayt Stadium in Al Khor , Qatar, Dec. 1, 2022. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar, File)

FILE - Referee Stephanie Frappart gives directions during the French Cup final soccer match between Nice and Nantes at the Stade de France stadium, in Saint Denis, north of Paris, Saturday, May 7, 2022. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is meeting with oil executives at the White House on Friday in hopes of securing $100 billion in investments to revive Venezuela’s ability to fully tap into its expansive reserves of petroleum — a plan that rides on their comfort in making commitments in a country plagued by instability, inflation and uncertainty.

Since the U.S. military raid to capture former Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro on Saturday, Trump has quickly pivoted to portraying the move as a newfound economic opportunity for the U.S., seizing tankers carrying Venezuelan oil, saying the U.S. is taking over the sales of 30 million to 50 million barrels of previously sanctioned Venezuelan oil and will be controlling sales worldwide indefinitely.

On Friday, U.S. forces seized their fifth tanker over the past month that has been linked to Venezuelan oil. The action reflected the determination of the U.S. to fully control the exporting, refining and production of Venezuelan petroleum, a sign of the Trump administration's plans for ongoing involvement in the sector as it seeks commitments from private companies.

It's all part of a broader push by Trump to keep gasoline prices low. At a time when many Americans are concerned about affordability, the incursion in Venezuela melds Trump’s assertive use of presidential powers with an optical spectacle meant to convince Americans that he can bring down energy prices.

The meeting, set for 2:30 p.m. EST, will be open to the news media, according to an update to the president's daily schedule. “At least 100 Billion Dollars will be invested by BIG OIL, all of whom I will be meeting with today at The White House,” Trump said Friday in a pre-dawn social media post.

Trump is set to meet with executives from 17 oil companies, according to the White House. Among the companies attending are Chevron, which still operates in Venezuela, and ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips, which both had oil projects in the country that were lost as part of a 2007 nationalization of private businesses under Maduro’s predecessor, Hugo Chávez.

The president is meeting with a wide swath of domestic and international companies with interests ranging from construction to the commodity markets. Other companies slated to be at the meeting include Halliburton, Valero, Marathon, Shell, Singapore-based Trafigura, Italy-based Eni and Spain-based Repsol.

Large U.S. oil companies have so far largely refrained from affirming investments in Venezuela as contracts and guarantees need to be in place. Trump has suggested on social media that America would help to backstop any investments.

Venezuela’s oil production has slumped below one million barrels a day. Part of Trump's challenge to turn that around will be to convince oil companies that his administration has a stable relationship with Venezuela’s interim President Delcy Rodríguez, as well as protections for companies entering the market.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum are slated to attend the oil executives meeting, according to the White House.

Meanwhile, the United States and Venezuelan governments said Friday they were exploring the possibility of r estoring diplomatic relations between the two countries, and that a delegation from the Trump administration arrived to the South American nation on Friday.

The small team of U.S. diplomats and diplomatic security officials traveled to Venezuela to make a preliminary assessment about the potential re-opening of the U.S. Embassy in Caracas, the State Department said in a statement.

Trump also announced on Friday he’d meet with President Gustavo Petro in early February, but called on the Colombian leader to make quick progress on stemming flow of cocaine into the U.S.

Trump, following the ouster of Maduro, had made vague threats to take similar action against Petro. Trump abruptly changed his tone Wednesday about his Colombian counterpart after a friendly phone call in which he invited Petro to visit the White House.

President Donald Trump waves as he walks off stage after speaking to House Republican lawmakers during their annual policy retreat, Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)