Szymon Marciniak

He is considered one of the best rated international referees of his generation. He has refereed the 2022 FIFA World Cup final between Argentina and France, the 2018 UEFA Super Cup between Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid, and the 2023 UEFA Champions League final between Manchester City and Inter Milan. In 2023 and 2024, he was named "The World's Best Referee" by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS).

Szymon Marciniak

Marciniak at the 2018 FIFA World Cup
Born	(1981-01-07) 7 January 1981 (age 43) Płock, Poland
Domestic
Years	League	Role
2009–present	Ekstraklasa	Referee
International
Years	League	Role
2011–present	FIFA listed	Referee

Marciniak was born in 1981 in Płock, Poland. The first sport he practiced in his youth was cycling. 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 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 stadium (match between GKS Bełchatów and Odra Wodzisław Śląski). Since then, he has refereed more than 300 matches in Ekstraklasa having been appointed the head referee in the 2016 Polish Cup final match as well as the 2017 Polish Super Cup.

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.

Marciniak became a FIFA referee in 2011. The same year, he also debuted as a referee in the Europa League in the qualifying match between Aalesunds FK and Ferencvárosi TC. In 2012, he refereed his first match in the UEFA Champions League between FK Ventspils and Molde FK. He refereed at 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, beginning with the Group F match between Portugal and Azerbaijan.

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 Real Madrid and AS Roma. One month later, he officiated the quarterfinal between Bayern Munich and S.L. Benfica.

He participated in the UEFA Euro 2016 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 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 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 hosted by Qatar.

On 19 May 2022, he was selected to officiate matches at the 2022 FIFA World Cup. 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 Argentina and France, 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, Howard Webb, Keith Hackett, Lutz Wagner and Thorsten Kinhöfer.

On 17 May 2023, he refereed the UEFA Champions League semi-final match between Manchester City and Real Madrid (4–0). Five days later, on 22 May 2023, he was appointed to referee the 2022–23 Cypriot Cup final between AEL Limassol and Omonia on 24 May, as well as the 2023 UEFA Champions League final between Manchester City and Inter Milan 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 in Jeddah between Manchester City and Fluminense FC.

On 1 June 2023, it was reported that three days earlier Marciniak spoke at an entrepreneur conference co-organised by Sławomir Mentzen, a right-wing libertarian 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.

He has two children with wife Magdalena: a son, Bartosz (born 2003) and a daughter, Natalia (born 2012). He practices Muay Thai and plays badminton as an amateur.

In 2021, he was diagnosed with tachycardia after having recovered from COVID-19 infection, which prevented him from officiating matches at the UEFA Euro 2020.

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'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 Płock.

Major national team competition

UEFA Euro 2016 – France
Date	Match	Venue	Location	Round	Result	Yellow cards	Red cards
13 June 2016	Spain –   Czech Republic	Stadium de Toulouse	Toulouse	Group stage	1–0	1	0
22 June 2016	Iceland –   Austria	Stade de France	Paris	Group stage	2–1	5	0
26 June 2016	Germany –   Slovakia	Stade Pierre-Mauroy	Lille	Round of 16	3–0	4	0
2018 FIFA World Cup – Russia
Date	Match	Venue	Location	Round	Result	Yellow cards	Red cards
16 June 2018	Argentina –   Iceland	Otkritie Arena	Moscow	Group stage	1–1	0	0
23 June 2018	Germany –   Sweden	Fisht Olympic Stadium	Sochi	Group stage	2–1	4	1
2022 FIFA World Cup – Qatar
Date	Match	Venue	Location	Round	Result	Yellow cards	Red cards
26 November 2022	France –   Denmark	Stadium 974	Doha	Group stage	2–1	3	0
3 December 2022	Argentina –   Australia	Ahmad bin Ali Stadium	Al Rayyan	Round of 16	2–1	2	0
18 December 2022	Argentina –   France	Lusail Stadium	Lusail	Final	3–3 (4–2)	7	0

Other matches

2015 UEFA European Under-21 Championship – Czech Republic
Date	Match	Venue	Location	Round	Result	Yellow cards	Red cards
17 June 2015	Czech Republic –   Denmark	Eden Aréna	Prague	Group A	1–2	2	0
17 June 2015	Italy –   Portugal	Městský fotbalový stadion Miroslava Valenty	Uherské Hradiště	Group B	0–0	4	0
30 June 2015	Sweden –   Portugal	Eden Aréna	Prague	Final	0–0 (4–3)	2	0
2021 FIFA Arab Cup – Qatar
Date	Match	Venue	Location	Round	Result	Yellow cards	Red cards
30 November 2021	Qatar –   Bahrain	Al Bayt Stadium	Al Khor	Group stage	1–0	6	0
4 December 2021	Lebanon –   Algeria	Al Janoub Stadium	Al Wakrah	Group stage	0–2	1	2
15 December 2021	Qatar –   Algeria	Al Thumama Stadium	Doha	Semi-final	1–2	4	0

• IFFHS World's Best Referee: 2022, 2023

• List of FIFA international referees
• Sport in Poland