Match officials at the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup were selected by FIFA's Refereeing Department. 14 referees and 22 assistant referees were chosen from around the world to officiate the 32 games that made up the final tournament.
Candidate referees for the Finals were placed under scrutiny from 2005 onwards and attended a series of training camps. Candidates refereeing standards were regularly monitored at various tournaments around the globe before a final list was prepared. [1] This was followed by a training camp in the Canary Islands in January 2007 and a final period of preparation and training at the home of FIFA in Zurich in May. [2] [3] No referees were chosen from the Oceania Football Confederation at the finals. The original selection group was made up of 42 entrants, [4] 6 of which failed fitness tests resulting in the final group of 36 being confirmed for China. [5] The USA was the only country represented by two referees. [3]
Unlike the men's tournaments, the quartets of match officials do not necessarily come from the same country or confederation. This selection system was explained by Sonia Denoncourt, the head of women's refereeing at FIFA's Refereeing Department, "We don't have as many referees among the women and we certainly don't want to sacrifice quality. What we are looking for above all is compatibility on the field of play and the closest possible language links in the team selected for each game. The most important thing for us is that the referees have a good performance in the match." [1] A fourth official was chosen from those referees not officiating a game at that time.
The referees stayed together throughout the competition at their hotel base in Shanghai. [1] From there they travelled to the various venues for their designated games, before returning to base camp to continue with their specialised training programmes. [1] As well as fitness training, they attended regular theory sessions and reviewed previous matches to try to identify possible errors and improve their performance levels. A psychologist was also assigned to the group to help with their mental preparations ahead of games.
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International women's association football | ||
|---|---|---|
| Asia |  | |
| Africa | ||
| North America, Central America and the Caribbean | ||
| South America | ||
| Oceania | ||
| Europe | ||
| Non-FIFA | ||
| Games | ||
| Worldwide | ||
