Nelly Viennot

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Nelly Viennot (born 8 January 1962) is a French football (soccer) referee. An international woman's referee since 1995, Viennot attracted the attention of the wider football community when she was shortlisted, along with eighty-two other elite referees, as a possible assistant referee in the 2006 World Cup.

Viennot attended a four-day FIFA workshop in Frankfurt, hoping to become one of the sixty referees eventually chosen as assistant referees in the world's largest football tournament. However, she failed a sprint test on the 21 April 2006. She would have been the first ever female referee at a male World Cup; no other referee has come as close to officiating in the tournament.

Viennot's refereeing career began in 1987, and she refereed her first international woman's match on 1 January 1995. Since 2002 she has regularly refereed French football at the top levels, and made appearances in the UEFA Champions League.

She lives in Salouel, and cites her non-refereeing occupation as "housewife".

[edit] References

• Viennot's FIFA profile
• "Woman may be World Cup referee", Bangkok Post, date unknown.
• "Female ref hopes to be at World Cup", SLAM sports, date unknown.
• "Viennot won't be first female Cup ref", Associated Press, 21 April 2006.