Szymon Marciniak (Referee)

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Szymon Marciniak (born 7 July 1981 in Płock) is a Polish football referee. He has been on the FIFA list since 2011. He whistled games at the European Championship 2016, at the World Cup 2018 and at the World Cup 2022, the latter among other things the World Cup final between Argentina and France.

Career

Career
Szymon Marciniak pursued a career as a football player and has also been a football referee since 2002. He gave up his own player career in favour of a career as a referee and has been active as a referee in the highest Polish league, Ekstraklasa, since 2009 (for the first time between GKS Bełchatów and Odra Wodzisław Śląski). Highlights of his national referee career were, among other things, the three-time management of the final match for the Polish Football Cup, for the first time in 2013 between winners Legia Warsaw and Śląsk Wrocław. In 2016, he was entrusted with the management of the final for a second time, this time between Lech Posen and the new winner Legia Warsaw. A third cup final in Poland is booked for him from the 2021/22 season, when Lech Posen Raków Częstochowa lost 1:3.

In addition to his work in the Polish league, Marciniak has runs in several foreign leagues, including the Swiss Challenge League, the Japanese J-League and the Qatar Stars League. Most of the committees outside Poland are booked for him in Saudi Arabia. In addition to more than 30 games (as of June 2023) in the Saudi Professional League, Marciniak also led the final for the Saudi Arabian football cup three times. He also whispered other cup finals in several countries, such as the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Cyprus.

Marciniak led his first international match in March 2011 in qualifying for the 2011 U-17 European Championship between the teams of Norway and Belarus. A year later, he directed his first A-country match, a friendly match between Israel and Ukraine.

He made his debut in the group stage of the Champions League in 2014 at the encounter between Juventus Turin and Malmö FF.

He experienced a first international career highlight in 2015, when he was nominated for the U-21 European Championship 2015 and, after two appearances in the group phase, including the opening match, was finally entrusted with the management of the final between Sweden and Portugal. Subsequently, UEFA included him in the elite category of top European referees.

In December 2015, UEFA announced that Marciniak was among the 18 referees to serve at the 2016 European Championship in France. In the tournament, he led a total of 3 games, including the last group match of Austria against Iceland, as well as the final of the German team against Slovakia. FIFA nominated him for the 2018 World Cup on 29 March 2018. As assistants, Toma accompanied him