Back-to-back Women’s World Cups for Yee Sing

Similar to the national senior women’s team, assistant referee Stephanie-Dale Yee Sing will be flying Jamaica’s colours for the second consecutive Women’s World Cup.

The FIFA Referees Committee selected Yee Sing among 109 match officials participating in this summer’s tournament in Australia and New Zealand. FIFA revealed the list of officials yesterday. Yee Sing and Princess Brown officiated at the 2019 World Cup in France, the same tournament where the Reggae Girlz made their World Cup debut. However, Yee Sing will be Jamaica’s lone representative at this year’s tournament. Referee Odette Hamilton along with Yee Sing, Brown and Jasette Kerr were shortlisted to be a part of the tournament last month.

In a statement released by the Jamaica Football Federation yesterday, Yee Sing said that it is an honour to be selected among the 55 assistant referees and entrusted to officiate in a tournament of this magnitude.

“I am overjoyed,” said Yee Sing. “We work hard every day with the hope of representing our country at these major tournaments. Rubbing shoulders with the best and running with elite players have always been my dream since I began.”

JFF president Michael Ricketts said that he is pleased to see Yee Sing rewarded for the work that she has done throughout her career, continuing to perform at a high level.

“Stefanie-Dale should serve as inspiration to all the officials in Jamaica,” Ricketts said. “She along with some of the other female officials have been training and operating at world-class levels for a while. It’s great to see her getting the rewards she so richly deserves. We hope that she will serve as a catalyst and inspiration to other ladies and gentlemen officials to work hard as the sky is the limit.”

Among the 100 match officials, six women have been selected for the first time as Video Match Officials for the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) system. The 2019 tournament was the first time that VAR was used with 15 male VAR officials. According to FIFA, Yee Sing and the other selected match officials have been slated for preparation seminars in Montevideo and Doha to take place sometime this month and in February.