DOHA: The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) confirmed Thursday that Japan’s Yoshimi Yamashita will officiate the AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2023 fixture between Australia and India on Jan 13 - a landmark appointment that will make her the first woman ever to officiate a match in the flagship tournament.
She will be assisted in the Group B encounter at the Ahmed bin Ali Stadium by assistant referees Makoto Bozono and Naomi Teshirogi - an iconic Japanese trio who made history as the first women referees to officiate matches in the AFC Cup 2019 and AFC Champions League 2022, Qatar news agency (QNA) reported.
The first professional woman referee from Japan, Yamashita earned her FIFA badge in 2015. The Tokyo native was the first woman to manage a J1 League match in September 2022 and was notably one of six women match officials appointed for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.
Yamashita was the main referee for the opening match of the recent FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia and New Zealand 2023, where she went on to officiate two more games and served as fourth official for another two.
It was her second FIFA Women’s World Cup, following her debut in 2019 in France. Having embarked on her refereeing journey with the support of fellow Tokyo Gakugei University alumna Bozono, Yamashita also has experience at the AFC Women’s Asian Cup (2018 and 2022) and the Olympic Games (2020). –Bernama-QNA
