All-female referee team for Andorra vs England

England's World Cup qualifier in Andorra will be overseen by an all-female team of officials, marking the first time a senior Three Lions match has been refereed by a woman.

Kateryna Monzul will take charge for Saturday's game at the Estadi Nacional with fellow Ukrainians Maryna Striletska and Svitlana Grushko acting as assistant referees. Stephanie Frappart, of France, will be the video assistant referee.

In March, Frappart and Monzul became the first female referees to take charge of men’s World Cup qualifiers when they were in the middle for Holland vs Latvia and Austria vs Faroe Islands respectively.

Frappart previously became the first woman to referee a men's Champions League fixture when Juventus met Dynamo Kiev last year, after taking charge of Liverpool and Chelsea's Super Cup meeting in 2019.

Monzul, 40, was also part of the all-female team of officials when that happened for the first time in the men’s international football scene when San Marino met Gibraltar in November last year.

She has been refereeing international football since 2005, initially in the women’s game, and has experience at seven major tournaments. Arguably her highest-profile match to date came when she refereed the 2015 Women’s World Cup final, which the United States won with a 5-2 victory over Japan.

Monzul also has a degree in architecture and town planning, and became the first woman to referee in Ukraine’s men’s top flight in 2016.

Earlier this year Rebecca Welch became the first female referee to take charge of an English Football League game, overseeing Harrogate's 2-0 home defeat to Port Vale in April.

Saturday’s game is England’s seventh of 10 games in their qualifying group. Gareth Southgate’s team currently top Group I with 16 points from a possible 18, as they bid to reach next year's World Cup in Qatar. The match, which kicks off at 7.45pm, will be broadcast live on ITV.

Southgate plans changes amid plastic pitch fears

By Mike McGrath

Gareth Southgate is set to make changes in his defence for England’s return fixture against Andorra on their plastic pitch at Estadi Nacional.

Ben Chilwell is in line to start at left-back following his call-up to the squad this week, while Harry Maguire’s calf injury ruling him out of the upcoming two World Cup qualifiers in four days will mean a change at centre-back.

Southgate changed his entire team to face the 156th ranked team in the world last month when England won 4-0 at Wembley and he will look at keeping some players fresh for Tuesday’s match against Hungary.

Harry Kane’s history of ankle injury has made him a concern for playing the whole game against Andorra, having come off the bench last month to score a penalty. His former Tottenham team-mate Gareth Bale once described the surface at Andorra’s stadium as the worst he has played on.

Chilwell has not played for England since March, when he started against Poland, and went to the European Championships but suffered frustration when he was left out of matchday squads and then was forced to isolate after close contact with Chelsea team-mate Billy Gilmour who tested positive for Covid-19.

He started the season with Chelsea on the bench but made his first Premier League start of the season at the weekend when he scored against Southampton, after coming off the bench at half-time against Juventus in the previous week.

Luke Shaw missed a game for Manchester United with illness and has also been carrying a knock, with Southgate looking to play him in the Hungary game out of the two qualifiers.

Kalvin Phillips’ withdrawal also gives Southgate a dilemma as it brings Jordan Henderson into the frame as a direct replacement and the England manager must weigh up how much action is suitable for the Liverpool captain this week.