Chénard, Charbonneau appointed to London 2012

Canada’s Carol Anne Chénard and Marie-Josée Charbonneau have been appointed to officiate at the London 2012 Women’s Olympic Football Tournament this 25 July to 9 August. Chénard and Charbonneau were two of 36 international officials appointed for the tournament. In all, the FIFA Referees Committee under the chairmanship of Ángel María Villar Llona appointed 84 officials from 36 countries to officiate at the London 2012 men’s and women’s Olympic tournaments.

Chénard has been on the FIFA List of Referees and Assistant Referees since 2006 . Her previous appointments include the Beijing 2008 Women’s Olympic Football Tournament, the FIFA U-20 World Cup Germany 2010, and numerous CONCACAF competitions including the recent 2012 CONCACAF Women’s Olympic Qualifying tournament in Vancouver, BC. She was the referee for the gold-medal final at Germany 2010.

As for Charbonneau, this marks her first year on the FIFA List of Referees and Assistant Referees. She was an Assistant Referee at the recent 2012 CONCACAF Women’s Olympic Qualifying tournament in Vancouver, BC.

FIFA’s Head of Women’s Refereeing Sonia Denoncourt knows what it’s like to be in the spotlight herself at major tournaments, having refereed at three FIFA Women’s World Cups and two Olympic Football Tournaments.

“The bulk of the female referees who have been appointed for the 2012 Olympic Games will be familiar faces from last summer’s FIFA Women’s World Cup in Germany and are at the top of their profession” explained Denoncourt.

“Whilst the technical quality in the women’s game has improved massively on the pitch in the last 15-20 years, our responsibility is to ensure the standard of officiating improves at the same time.”

The 12 qualified teams for the London 2012 Women’s Olympic Football Tournament are Great Britain, Cameroon, South Africa, Japan, Korea DPR, France, Sweden, New Zealand, Brazil, Colombia, USA and Canada.

The Official Draw for the London 2012 Men’s Olympic Football Tournament takes place on Tuesday 24 April.