Greek referee Chrysoula “Chrysa” Kourobylia has been named among the 55 assistant referee’s presiding over the 2023 Women’s World Cup taking place in Australia and New Zealand between 20 July and 20 August, FIFA announced.
The FIFA Referees Committee announced the competition’s 33 referees, 55 assistant referees and 19 video match officials (VMOs). The selection process is a joint-venture between the committee and the worlds six regional football confederations.
The draw is made with regard to the quality and performance of referees in recent years FIFA tournaments, as well as competitions in other international and domestic leagues.
For the first time in the history of the FIFA Women’s World Cup, six female VMOs were selected.
“As always, the criteria we have used is ‘quality first’ and the selected on-field match officials represent the highest level of refereeing worldwide, said Pierluigi Collina, chairman of the FIFA Referees Committee in an official statement.
“We all remember the very successful FIFA Women’s World Cup 2019 in France. The high standard of refereeing contributed significantly to that success,” he said.
Kourobylia was selected from more than 170 candidate match officials, a process which was complicated due to the COVID-19 pandemic which limited the selection committee’s ability to conduct in person trials for a time.
This isn’t the first time Kourobylia’s refereed at the Women’s World Cup, in 2019 she had the honour of presiding over the tournament held in France.
A graduate of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens’ Department of Physical Education and Sports Science, she received her FIFA badge in 2008, soon after entering the Super League in 2010.
