Argentina-France: who is it? Szymon Marciniak, the designated referee for the Qatar 2022 World Cup final
Who is Szymon Marciniak, the referee appointed by Fifa to officiate the Argentina-France 2022 Qatar World Cup final today, December 18? It is a 41-year-old referee, the first Polish in history to direct a World Cup final. For the whistler, born in Plock and international since 2011, this was his second world cup. In addition to him, the referee team will then be made up of Pawel Sokolnicki, Tomasz Listkiewicz and Tomasz Kwiatkowski.
In Qatar Marciniak has already directed two matches and both involved the two finalists, the second match of the group between France and Denmark (2-1) and the eighth Argentina-Australia (2-1). This season, in addition to directing matches in the Polish championship, he was employed by UEFA in the Champions League (among other matches also Barcelona-Inter and Dinamo Zagreb-Milan) and in England-Italy in the Nations League. He had been impeccable in the Camp Nou match, after the great controversy between the Nerazzurri and the Blaugrana after the first leg.
Career
But let’s get to know Szymon Marciniak better, the referee of the Argentina-France Qatar 2022 World Cup final. He has been a referee in the Polish top flight since 2008 and has been “international” since 1 January 2011. In October 2012 he made his debut in the group stage of the UEFA Europa League, and about a year and a half later, in March 2014, he managed a round of 16 of the same competition.
He directed several matches between youth national teams, valid for qualification for the European category, and also some qualifying matches for the 2014 Brazil World Cup. In September 2014, Szymon Marciniak directed for the first time a qualifying match for the 2016 European Championships, in this case Estonia-Slovenia. A few days later, his debut in the group stage of the UEFA Champions League was also made official, on the occasion he was designated for a match on the first day between the Italians of Juventus and the Swedes of Malmö.
In 2015, he was selected by UEFA for the 2015 European Under-21 Football Championship. After two appearances in the group stage, he was selected for the final between Sweden and Portugal, on 30 June 2015 at the Eden Aréna stadium in Prague. On 15 December 2015 he was officially selected for the 2016 Europeans in France.
In April 2016 he received for the first time the designation for a semi-final (first leg) of the Europa League, on the occasion the challenge between the Ukrainians of Šachtar and the Spanish, holders of the title, of Sevilla. At the European Championships in France 2016, the Polish whistle directs two matches in the group stage, and subsequently a round of 16, the latter between Germany and Slovakia.
In April 2017 Szymon Marciniak was announced by FIFA about his call-up to the Under-20 World Cup, scheduled between May and June 2017 in South Korea.
In November 2017 he was designated by FIFA to direct a UEFA playoff valid for access to the 2018 World Cup in Russia, specifically the second leg between Ireland and Denmark. On 29 March 2018 he was officially selected by FIFA for the 2018 World Cup in Russia, an edition in which he directed two group stage matches (Argentina-Iceland and Germany-Sweden).
On 7 May 2018, UEFA communicated its designation as fourth official for the 2017-2018 Europa League final, scheduled for 16 May 2018 at the Parc Olympique Lyonnais in Lyon between Olympique Marseille and Atletico Madrid. And now the most important match of his career: the final of the Qatar 2022 World Cup between Argentina and France.
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