Afcon 2023: Bouchra Karboubi on being a referee, police officer in Morocco and mother

Female referees across the world are making their mark on the beautiful game.

In 2022 France’s Stephane Frappart became the first woman to officiate at a men’s Fifa World Cup, taking charge of the group-stage game between Costa Rica and Germany

Despite these strides made so far, Karboubi feels women must still go an extra mile to prove their competence.

“It’s true that women, to get to this level, they must work extra hard. First physically, because to be ready for a men’s match we must be physically fit like the men,” she explains

“After that the technical expertise, that we must have of course, on the rules of the game.

“If a man makes mistakes, they will say that he’s a man, he’s only human. But a woman will be criticized twice as much because she is a female referee.”

At work back in Morocco for the police, Karboubi is an inspector and receives support from her colleagues who are always curious about her officiating duties.

“They make little remarks to me; ‘Why didn’t you do that? Why did you do that? Why did you whistle for a penalty? Explain to us why the red card’ but they always encourage me, and I appreciate their support for me,” Karboubi said.

She believes the two jobs complement each other.

“Refereeing helped me a lot as an athlete to be a good police officer, and being a police officer helped me have a strong personality on the field as a referee.”

The mother of one has ambitions to officiate at the men’s World Cup one day, after making her Fifa debut in the women’s tournament last year.

She hopes her achievements so far in two male dominated fields can inspire young women in the Arab world and beyond that no field is off limits.

“It may have been a male dominated field, but today we have been able to show that even women are able to do it,” she said.

“So, I would tell girls who have that goal to work hard and never give up.”