When the whistle of the start of the final match of the World Cup Qatar 2022 sounds, on Sunday, December 18th at Lusail Stadium, all eyes will be directed towards the players of France and Argentina, the champions of the final scene of the World Cup, especially the two stars Kylian Mbappe and Lionel Messi, who will compete for the title of top scorer in the World Cup alongside The ambition of both is to lead their country to a third world glory.
But a third star, in turn, will be the focus of everyone's attention inside and outside the stadium on international screens, and he is the Polish Simon Marciniak, who will lead the 2022 Cup final match between the defending champion and the champion of the 1978 and 1986 editions.
And the International Federation of Football Associations (FIFA) announced - yesterday, Thursday - that Marchiniak will be the referee of the arena and will be assisted by his compatriots Pavel Sokolnicki and Tomas Leskevich, a trio who managed matches in the 2018 World Cup and the 2016 European Nations Cup.
Marciniak is the third Polish referee to participate in the history of the World Cup and the first since France 1998 (Reuters)
A match for France and another for Argentina
Before leading the final match, the 41-year-old Marciniak led one match for each of the two teams in the current edition of the tournament. The first was on November 26 between Denmark and the “Roosters” for the group stage, and ended with the latter’s victory 2-1. The second was on December 3, in the final price round, which ended with a 2-1 victory for Argentina over Australia.
Marciniak is the third Polish referee to participate in the history of the World Cup, after his compatriots Aloizy Yargoz, who participated in the 1978 and 1982 editions, and Richard Wozek in the 1998 edition.
This Polish referee leads his sixth match in two versions of the World Cup, as he managed 3 matches in “Russia 2018” and two matches in the current edition.
Marciniak, who received the international badge from FIFA in 2011, regularly participates in Champions League matches.
Since his beginnings in the 2012 competition, he has - so far - managed 39 matches for the competition.
And in 2015, he captained the first final of his career when he was appointed to the UEFA European Under-21 Championship final between Sweden and Portugal.
Before being selected among the European Union referees to participate in the World Cup in Qatar, Marchignac led a match for France against Sweden in the group stage competitions of the Nations League in 2020, in which the "Roosters" won 1-0, and another for Argentina in the 2018 World Cup against Iceland.
Marchiniak managed the European Super Final match between Real and Atletico in 2018 (Reuters)
He also supervised matches in various European club competitions, as he refereed the European Super Cup final for the 2017-2018 season between Real Madrid and rivals Atletico Madrid, which ended with the latter’s victory 4-2.
In the World Cup competition, the Polish referee appeared for the first time in the 2018 finals in Russia, where he managed two matches: Argentina and Iceland for the fourth group (1-1), then Germany and Sweden for the sixth group, in which the “Manshafts” won (2-1).
Marciniak is known for his lack of haste in announcing red and yellow cards. In the France-Denmark match, he brought out only 3 yellow cards, while in the Argentina-Australia match, he only resorted to yellow cards on two occasions.
Marchignac in the face of French striker Giroud in the Denmark match (Reuters)
Euro 2016: the great beginnings
And the process of refereeing the final of the 2022 World Cup arbitration began in 2009, when he officiated a match on April 18 for the Polish Premier League, and after only two years he obtained the international badge before he managed on July 21 of that year the first international match in his career and it was in the preliminary round. The first for the European Union Cup competition between Alösund of Norway and Hungarian Frinkváros.
He also participated in "Euro 2016" in France, and that tournament was the first major competition in his career, where he managed 3 matches: Spain and Czech Republic, Austria and Iceland (first round), Germany and Slovakia (final price round).
This referee, born on January 7, 1981, participated in the 2021 Arab Cup competition in Qatar, and managed the Qatar-Algeria match in the semi-finals, which ended with the Algerians winning 2-1.