Irish referee Michelle O'Neill has been included on the list of assistant match officials for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup.The tournament co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand will feature the Republic of Ireland national team for the first time and will kick off on 20 July.O'Neill, who was one of the assistant referees for the 2019 World Cup final between the eventual champions United States and the Netherlands, will reprise her role this summer and is among 55 assistant referees selected by world football's governing body for the competition which has expanded from 24 teams to 32.The Wexford native is the only Irish match official selected for the tournament and it also marks her third World Cup, having also been an assistant in 2015.Thirty-three referees have been picked along with 19 video match officials."As always, the criteria we have used is 'quality first' and the selected on-field match officials represent the highest level of refereeing worldwide," FIFA referees committee chairman Pierluigi Collina said, with the former referee adding, "We all remember the very successful FIFA Women's World Cup 2019 in France."The high standard of refereeing contributed significantly to that success.
The aim for the FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia and New Zealand 2023 is to repeat that success and to convince again with excellent referees’ performances."