Szymon Marciniak (Polish: ; born 7 January 1981) is a Polish football referee. He is considered one of the best rated international referees of his generation. He has refereed the

2022 FIFA World Cup final The 2022 FIFA World Cup final was the final match of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, the 22nd edition of FIFA's competition for men's national football teams. The match was played at Lusail Stadium in Lusail, Qatar, on 18 December 2022, the Qatari ...

between

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

and

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, the 2018 UEFA Super Cup between

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

and

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), commonly referred to as Atlético Madrid or simply Atlético, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid that plays in La Liga. The club play their home game ...

, and the 2023 UEFA Champions League final between

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

and

Inter Milan Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football ...

. For 2022 and 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 ), officially the Ducal Capital City of Płock, is a city in central Poland, on the Vistula river, in the Masovian Voivodeship. According to the data provided by Central Statistical Office (Poland), GUS on 31 December 2021, the ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. The first sport he practiced in his youth was

cycling Cycling, also known as bicycling or biking, is the activity of riding a bicycle or other types of pedal-driven human-powered vehicles such as balance bikes, unicycles, tricycles, and quadricycles. Cycling is practised around the world fo ...

. He changed this sport for football at the age of 15. He played in the junior squad of Wisła Płock claiming the fourth place at the Polish Junior Championships with the team. He also briefly played for the German

Regionalliga A (, plural ) is a regional league in numerous Sports governing body, sports governing bodies in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, usually located in the upper or middle tiers of the sports leagues. The term is often associated with the Germa ...

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 officiated his first match in Poland's top professional league in 2009 at the GIEKSA Arena, in a game between GKS Bełchatów and Odra Wodzisław Śląski. Since then, he has refereed more than 300 matches in

Ekstraklasa (; meaning "Extra Class" in Polish), officially known as PKO Bank Polski Ekstraklasa due to its Sponsor (commercial), sponsorship by PKO Bank Polski, is a professional association football league in Poland and the highest level of the Polish foo ...

having been appointed the head referee in the 2016

Polish Cup The Polish Cup in Association football, football ( ) is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout football competition for Polish football club (association football), football clubs, held continuously since 1950, and is the second most i ...

final match as well as the 2017

Polish Super Cup 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 2024, the Polish Super Cup has been ...

. As of 2021, he has given 1201 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 The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

referee in 2011. The same year, he also debuted as a referee in the Europa League in the qualifying match between

Aalesunds FK Aalesunds Fotballklubb, commonly known as Aalesund or AaFK, is a Norwegian professional association football, football club from the town of Ålesund (town), Ålesund, that competes in the Norwegian first division, the second tier of the Norwegi ...

and

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

. In 2012, he refereed his first match in the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

between FK Ventspils and

Molde FK Molde Fotballklubb () is a association football, football club based in Molde Municipality, Molde, Norway, that competes in Eliteserien, the top flight of Norwegian football league system, Norwegian football. Founded on 19 June 1911, the club w ...

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

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

and

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...

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

and

AS Roma Associazione Sportiva Roma (''Rome Sport Association''; Italian pronunciation: Help:IPA/Italian, ) is a professional Association football, football club based in Rome, Italy. Founded by a merger in 1927, Roma has participated in the top tier ...

. One month later, he officiated the quarterfinal between Bayern Munich and S.L. Benfica. 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 association football, football ch ...

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 The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded t ...

along with Paweł 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 Association football, 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 offic ...

final match between

and

. 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 FIFA Arab Cup, Arab Cup, the Arab world's national team Association football, football tournament; it was the first edition under FIFA's jurisdiction, with previous editions having been organi ...

hosted by

Qatar Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...

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

2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup was the 22nd FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

. 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 to 2003. Collina is sti ...

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 ...

, Keith Hackett, Lutz Wagner and Thorsten Kinhöfer. On 17 May 2023, he refereed the

semi-final match between

and

(4–0). Five days later, on 22 May 2023, he was appointed to referee the 2022–23 Cypriot Cup final between

AEL Limassol Athlitiki Enosi Lemesou () is a Cyprus, Cypriot sports club based in the city of Limassol, most famous for its football team. AEL Limassol also maintains a AEL Limassol B.C., men's and AEL Limassol B.C. (women), women's basketball teams, a wom ...

and Omonia on 24 May, as well as the 2023 UEFA Champions League final between Manchester City and

on 10 June, becoming only the second referee in football history to officiate the World Cup final and the Champions League final in the same season. On 22 December 2023, Marciniak took charge of the

2023 FIFA Club World Cup Final The 2023 FIFA Club World Cup Final was the final match of the 2023 FIFA Club World Cup, an international club football tournament hosted by Saudi Arabia. It was the 20th final of the FIFA Club World Cup, a FIFA-organised tournament between the ...

in Jeddah between Manchester City and

Fluminense FC Fluminense Football Club () is a Brazilian sports club based in the neighbourhood of Laranjeiras, in Rio de Janeiro, being the oldest Association football, football club in the state since its foundation in 1902. It competes in the Campeonato B ...

. At the

UEFA Euro 2024 The 2024 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2024 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2024) or simply Euro 2024, was the 17th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international Association football, football champ ...

, he officiated the group stage match between

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

and

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

and a round of 16 match between

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

and

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. He was also appointed the fourth official for the final match between

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

and

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

Controversies

On 1 June 2023, it was reported that three days earlier Marciniak spoke at an entrepreneur conference co-organised by

Sławomir Mentzen Sławomir Jerzy Mentzen (; born 20 November 1986) is a Polish politician, entrepreneur and tax advisor. He placed third in the 2025 Polish presidential election. He serves as the chairman of the libertarian political party New Hope and as one ...

, a right-wing

libertarian Libertarianism (from ; or from ) is a political philosophy that holds freedom, personal sovereignty, and liberty as primary values. Many libertarians believe that the concept of freedom is in accord with the Non-Aggression Principle, according ...

politician and leader of the Confederation Liberty and Independence in Poland, who has in the past been accused of anti-semitic and anti-LGBT statements. His attendance at the event was first disclosed by the Polish anti-racist organisation Never Again. Marciniak responded to Never Again's report by releasing a statement in which he dissociated himself from the views presented by the organizer stressing that he "always puts fair play and respect for other people first". Ultimately, UEFA announced Marciniak would remain as referee for the UEFA Champions League final scheduled for 10 June.

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 or Muaythai (, , ), sometimes referred to as Thai boxing, the Art of Eight Limbs or the Science of Eight Limbs, is a Thai martial art and full-contact combat sport that uses stand-up striking, sweeps, and various clinch fighting, cl ...

and plays

badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racket (sports equipment), racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net (device), net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per s ...

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 ...

after having recovered from

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

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 or simply Euro 2020, was the 16th UEFA European Championship, the Anniversary#Latin-derived numerical names, quadrennial international men's association footb ...

. He is the protagonist of the Canal+ documentary series entitled ''Sędziowie'' (Referees) and ''Na podsłuchu'' presenting the work of football referees. In 2022, he appeared as a guest at the '' Kuba Wojewódzki'' talk show. He also received the Personality of the Year Award in the ''Piłka nożna'' magazine plebiscite. In 2023, he appeared in the fourth episode of the 8th edition of

Polsat Polsat is a Polish free-to-air television channel that was launched on 5 December 1992 by Zygmunt Solorz-Żak. , it is the most watched television channel in Poland with a market share of 11.30% Polsat belongs to Grupa Polsat Plus ( WSE: CP ...

's TV show ''Hell's Kitchen. Piekielna Kuchnia''. The same year, he was awarded the Laude Probus Medal by the council authorities of his hometown of

Record

Major national team competition

Other matches

Awards

* IFFHS World's Best Referee: 2022, 2023 * Piłka nożna magazine Sports Personality of the Year Award: 2023 * Gold Badge for Merit to Sport: 2023 * Laude Probus Medal of the city of

: 2023

References

Szymon Marciniak {{DEFAULTSORT:Marciniak, Szymon 1981 births Living people Polish football referees Sportspeople from Płock UEFA Champions League referees UEFA Euro 2016 referees 2018 FIFA World Cup referees 2022 FIFA World Cup referees UEFA Euro 2024 referees FIFA World Cup finals match officials UEFA Europa League referees