Female referees will make FIFA World Cup history this year by officiating games at a major men's tournament for the first time.

Three female referees and three female assistant referees were announced by FIFA on Thursday among 129 officials selected for World Cup duty in Qatar. The list includes one man who caused controversy when refereeing a chaotic African Cup of Nations game in January while suffering with heatstroke.

French referee Stephanie Frappart has already overseen games in World Cup qualifying and the Champions League, after handling the 2019 Women's World Cup final.

She also refereed the final of the men's French Cup this month.

Salima Mukansanga of Rwanda and Yoshimi Yamashita of Japan are also on the list of 36 referees preparing for the 64 games at the tournament, which will be played from November 21 to December 18.

The extreme heat in Qatar led FIFA to decide in 2015 to move the tournament to the cooler months in the Gulf emirate.

FIFA have picked 24 men to work on video reviews after the VAR system made its debut in 2018.

"We have been able to call up female match officials for the first time in the history of a FIFA World Cup," said the chairman of the FIFA Referees Committee Pierluigi Collina, "This concludes a long process that began several years ago with the deployment of female referees at FIFA men's junior and senior tournaments. In this way, we clearly emphasize that it is quality that counts for us and not gender."

(With input from AP)