FIFA has announced the referees in charge of the FIFA Women's World Cup Australia & New Zealand 2023™ group stage matches and Japan’s YAMASHITA Yoshimi, BOZONO Makoto, and TESHIROGI Naomi have been appointed to officiate the opening match between the New Zealand Women's National Team and Norway Women's National Team on Thursday, 20 July.

This will be the first time for any Japanese referees to be in charge of the opening match of the FIFA Women's World Cup™.

Appointed match

Fixture: New Zealand Women's National Team vs Norway Women's National Team (Match #1 of Group A)
Date: Thursday, 20 July, 19:00 (Local time)
Venue: Eden Park (Auckland, New Zealand)

Referee: YAMASHITA Yoshimi
Assistant referee 1: BOZONO Makoto
Assistant referee 2: TESHIROGI Naomi
Fourth Official: Ivana MARTINCIC (Croatia)
VAR: Tatiana UZMAN (Nicaragua)
AVAR: Carol Anne CHENARD (Canada)
Offside VAR: Chanta BOUDREAU (Canada)

Referee Profile

◇YAMASHITA Yoshimi
Birthplace: Tokyo
Registered as International referee: 2015
Notable International competitions in charge:
2015　The 28th Summer Universiade (2015/Gwangju)
2016　FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup Jordan 2016™
2017　The 29th Summer Universiade 2017 Taipei
2018　FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup Uruguay 2018™
2019　FIFA Women's World Cup France 2019™
2021　Games of the XXXII Olympiad (Tokyo 2020)
2022　AFC Champions League 2022
2022　FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™

*Became the first female referee to officiate a J.League match on 16 May 2021 (J3 League match between Y.S.C.C. Yokohama and Tegevajaro Miyazaki)
*Became the first female professional referee on 1 August 2022.
*Became the first female referee to officiate a J1 League match on 18 September 2022 (FC Tokyo vs Kyoto Sanga FC)
*Selected as one of the first ever female referees for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ and served as the fourth official for a total of six matches.

◇BOZONO Makoto
Birthplace: Tokyo
Registered as International referee: 2015
Notable International competitions in charge:
2018　FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup Uruguay 2018™
2019　FIFA Women's World Cup France 2019™
2021　Games of the XXXII Olympiad (Tokyo 2020)
2022　AFC Champions League 2022

◇TESHIROGI Naomi
Birthplace: Hokkaido
Registered as International referee: 2013
Notable International competitions in charge:
2015　FIFA Women's World Cup Canada 2015™
2016　Games of the XXXI Olympiad (Rio 2016)
2018　FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup Uruguay 2018™
2019　FIFA Women's World Cup France 2019™
2021　Games of the XXXII Olympiad (Tokyo 2020)
2022　AFC Champions League 2022

Note
Japanese referees have been in charge of the opening match in the men’s FIFA World Cup™, when NISHIMURA Yuichi, SAGARA Toru, and NAGI Toshiyuki officiated the opening match between Brazil and Croatia at the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil™.