Szymon Marciniak (Polish: ; born 7 January 1981) is a Polish professional football referee. He is considered one of the most highly rated international referees of his generation. He refereed the 2022 FIFA World Cup final between

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

and

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

on 18 December 2022 in

Lusail Lusail ( ar, لوسيل, , ) is the second-largest city in Qatar, located on the coast, in the southern part of the municipality of Al Daayen. Lusail is located about north of the city centre of Doha, just north of the West Bay Lagoon, on over ...

, Qatar, as well as the

2018 UEFA Super Cup The 2018 UEFA Super Cup was the 43rd edition of the UEFA Super Cup, an annual football match organised by UEFA and contested by the reigning champions of the two main European club competitions, the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Europa League ...

between Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid. In 2023, he was named "The World's Best Referee" by the

International Federation of Football History & Statistics The International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) is an organisation that chronicles the history and records of association football. It was founded in 1984 by Alfredo Pöge in Leipzig. The IFFHS was based in Abu Dhabi for so ...

(IFFHS).

Early career

Marciniak was born in 1981 in

Płock Płock (pronounced ) is a city in central Poland, on the Vistula river, in the Masovian Voivodeship. According to the data provided by GUS on 31 December 2021, there were 116,962 inhabitants in the city. Its full ceremonial name, according to th ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

. The first sport he practiced in his youth was

cycling Cycling, also, when on a two-wheeled bicycle, called bicycling or biking, is the use of cycles for transport, recreation, exercise or sport. People engaged in cycling are referred to as "cyclists", "bicyclists", or "bikers". Apart from t ...

. He changed this sport for football at the age of 15. He played in the junior squad of

Wisła Płock Wisła Płock Spółka Akcyjna (''Wisła Płock S.A.''), commonly referred to as Wisła Płock (), is a Polish professional football club, based in Płock, Masovian Voivodeship, which plays in the Ekstraklasa, the top tier of the national fo ...

claiming the fourth place at the Polish Junior Championships with the team. He also briefly played for the German Regionalliga club VfB Annaberg-Buchholz. He began his career as a football referee at the age of 21. Initially, he combined refereeing football matches with playing as an amateur footballer. In 2006, he switched to working as a football referee professionally. He refereed his first match in the top Polish professional league in 2009 at the

GKS Bełchatów GKS Bełchatów is a Polish professional Association football, football club based in Bełchatów that currently plays in the IV liga. History GKS Bełchatów entered Poland's Klasa A in 1977 under the name of Węgiel Brunatny Bełchatów, a ...

stadium (match between GKS Bełchatów and

Odra Wodzisław Śląski Odra Wodzisław Śląski Spółka z o.o. (), is a Polish football club based in Wodzisław Śląski, Poland. History The club was established in 1922 as Odra Wodzisław, then changed its name several times. After the Second World War and until ...

). Since then, he has refereed more than 300 matches in

Ekstraklasa Poland Ekstraklasa (), meaning "Extra Class" in Polish, named PKO Ekstraklasa since the 2019–20 season due to its sponsorship by PKO Bank Polski, is the top Polish professional league for men's association football teams. Contested by 18 ...

having been appointed the head referee in the 2016

Polish Cup The Polish Cup in football ( pl, Puchar Polski w piłce nożnej ) is an elimination tournament for Polish football clubs, held continuously from 1950, and is the second most important national title in Polish football after the Ekstraklasa title. ...

final match as well as the 2017

Polish SuperCup The Polish Super Cup (, ) is an annually held match between the champions of the Ekstraklasa and the Polish Cup winners or, if the Ekstraklasa champions also win the Polish Cup, the Cup's runners-up. As of 2021, the Polish Super Cup has been ...

. As of 2021, he has given 1212 yellow cards (on average four yellow cards per game), 79 red cards and has awarded 131 penalty kicks in over 300 Ekstraklasa matches he has refereed.

International career

Marciniak became a FIFA referee in 2011. The same year, he also debuted as a referee in the

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

in the qualifying match between

Aalesunds FK Aalesunds Fotballklubb, commonly known as Aalesund or AaFK, is a Norwegian football club from the town of Ålesund, that competes in the Eliteserien, the first tier of the Norwegian football league system. The club was founded on 25 June 1914. ...

and

Ferencvárosi TC Ferencvárosi Torna Club, known as Ferencváros (), Fradi, or simply FTC, is a professional football club based in Ferencváros, Budapest, Hungary, that competes in the Nemzeti Bajnokság I, the top flight of Hungarian football. Ferencváros ...

. In 2012, he refereed his first match in the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...

between

FK Ventspils FK Ventspils is a Latvian football club, based at Ventspils Olimpiskais Stadions in Ventspils city and is one of the most popular football clubs in the country. The club played in the Latvian Virsliga since 1997. It was abolished in 2020, but has ...

and

Molde FK Molde Fotballklubb () is a professional football club based in Molde, Norway, that competes in Eliteserien, the top flight of Norwegian football. Founded on 19 June 1911, the club was originally known as International and changed its name t ...

. He refereed at 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, beginning with the Group F match between

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

and

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of t ...

. On 20 March 2015, he was appointed to the UEFA Elite referee list, finding himself among the top 27 football referees in Europe. On 30 June 2015, he was the referee for the

2015 UEFA European Under-21 Championship Final The 2015 UEFA European Under-21 Championship Final was a football match that took place on 30 June 2015 at the Eden Arena in Prague, Czech Republic, and determined the winner of the 2015 UEFA European Under-21 Championship. Sweden won their first ...

. In March 2016, he refereed his first match in the knockout phase of the Champions League, a Round of 16 match between Real Madrid and

AS Roma ' (''Rome Sport Association''), commonly referred to as Roma (), is a professional Association football, football club based in Rome, Italy. Founded by a merger in 1927, Roma has participated in the top tier of Italian football for all of its ...

. One month later, he officiated the quarterfinal between Bayern Munich and

S.L. Benfica Sport Lisboa e Benfica (), commonly known as Benfica, is a professional football club based in Lisbon, Portugal, that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football. Founded on 28 February 1904 as ''Sport Lisboa'', Be ...

. He participated in the

UEFA Euro 2016 The 2016 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2016 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2016) or simply Euro 2016, was the 15th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe ...

and refereed three matches: Spain-Czech Republic and Iceland-Austria in the group stage of the tournament as well as Germany-Slovakia in the knockout phase. On 29 March 2018, FIFA announced that he would officiate some matches at 2018 FIFA World Cup along with Pawel Sokolnicki and Tomasz Listkiewicz as assistant referees. He officiated two group stage matches: Argentina-Iceland and Germany-Sweden. He was also selected as the referee for the 2018

UEFA Super Cup The UEFA Super Cup is an annual super cup football match organised by UEFA and contested by the winners of the two main European club competitions; the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. The competition's official name was original ...

final match between Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid. On 15 December 2021, he was appointed to referee of the semi-final match between Qatar and Algeria (1-2) at the

2021 FIFA Arab Cup The 2021 FIFA Arab Cup () was the 10th edition of the Arab Cup, the Arab world's national team football tournament; it was the first edition under FIFA's jurisdiction. It took place between 30 November and 18 December in Qatar, as a pre ...

hosted by

Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it ...

. On 19 May 2022, he was selected to officiate matches at the

FIFA World Cup 2022 The 2022 FIFA World Cup is an international football tournament contested by the men's national teams of FIFA's member associations. The 22nd FIFA World Cup is taking place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022; it is the first Worl ...

. He officiated one match in the group stage (France's 2-1 win over Denmark) and one match in the Round of 16 (Argentina's 2-1 victory over Australia). On 15 December 2022, it was announced that he would officiate the World Cup Final between

and

, becoming the first Polish referee to do so. His performance in the final was highly praised by many commentators as well as fellow referees including

Pierluigi Collina Pierluigi Collina (; born 13 February 1960) is an Italian former football referee. He was named "The World's Best Referee" by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics six consecutive times from 1998-2003. Collina is still i ...

Howard Webb Howard Melton Webb MBE (born 14 July 1971) is an English former professional football referee who officiated primarily in the Premier League from 2003 to 2014, as well as for FIFA as a FIFA international referee from 2005 to 2014. Webb is co ...

Keith Hackett Keith Stuart Hackett (born 22 June 1944) is an English former football referee, who began refereeing in local leagues in the Sheffield, South Yorkshire area in 1960. He is counted amongst the top 100 referees of all time in a list maintained b ...

, Lutz Wagner and

Thorsten Kinhöfer Thorsten Kinhöfer (born 27 June 1968) is a former German football referee in the Fußball-Bundesliga. Refereeing career Kinhöfer is appointed to matches under the auspices of the German FA since 1994. He was added to the list of 2nd Bundesl ...

Personal life

He has two children with wife Magdalena: a son Bartosz (born 2003) and a daughter Natalia (born 2012). He practices

Muay Thai Muay Thai ( th, มวยไทย, , ), sometimes referred to as Thai boxing, is a combat sport that uses stand-up striking along with various clinching techniques. This discipline is known as the "art of eight limbs", as it is characterised ...

as an amateur. In 2021, he was diagnosed with

tachycardia Tachycardia, also called tachyarrhythmia, is a heart rate that exceeds the normal resting rate. In general, a resting heart rate over 100 beats per minute is accepted as tachycardia in adults. Heart rates above the resting rate may be normal (su ...

after having recovered from

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

infection, which prevented him from officiating matches at the

UEFA Euro 2020 The 2020 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2020 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2020) or simply Euro 2020, was the 16th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe ...

Record

Major national team competition

Other matches

References

Szymon Marciniak {{DEFAULTSORT:Marciniak, Szymon 1981 births Living people Polish football referees Sportspeople from Płock UEFA Champions League referees UEFA Euro 2016 referees FIFA World Cup referees 2018 FIFA World Cup referees 2022 FIFA World Cup referees FIFA World Cup Final match officials