Szymon Marciniak has been selected as the on-field official for this weekend’s World Cup final between France and Argentina.
FIFA’s chairman of referees, Pierluigi Collina, has been tasked with evaluating officials throughout the tournament in Qatar to decide which team will be given the showpiece event. And it has now been confirmed the team from Poland will be in charge at the Lusail Stadium as the two international heavyweights go toe-to-toe.
Marciniak will become the first Pole to referee a World Cup final - and will be joined by assistants Paweł Sokolnicki and Tomasz Listkiewicz. The 41-year-old has been given the nod having already officiated both of the sides to have reached the final.
The Polish ref oversaw France’s 2-1 win over Denmark in the group stages, before being awarded Argentina’s round-of-16 victory vs Australia. Marciniak was selected over a host of officials, including Wilton Sampaio, who enraged England’s stars during their quarter-final defeat to the French.
Sampaio remained in Qatar for the final stages, despite appearing to make a glut of errors during the Three Lions’ painful exit. The Chilean ref failed to see a potential foul on Bukayo Saka for the first goal, before failing to award a first-half penalty for Harry Kane.
Sampaio did give England two spot kicks in the second half, albeit the second of which came after a lengthy VAR check. And while Gareth Southgate refused to criticise his performance in his own post-match autopsy, a selection of heartbroken players pointed the blame.
Harry Maguire told BBC Sport: "Big decisions went against us, a lot of decisions went against us, should I say. I think the referee’s decision-making throughout the game was really poor. We always stand here and as players we get criticised.
"So it would be nice to see if he comes out and says whether he’s had a good game or not. Because there were so many decisions in that first half where they made five, six early fouls. I think H [Harry Kane] was outside the box but it was a clear foul.
"He didn’t in the second half, Bukayo’s is a clear foul leading up to their first goal. Big moments, big decisions, you expect to get some right but unfortunately tonight we didn’t get any."
Jude Bellingham was similarly unimpressed, admitting Sampaio wasn’t at the level required: “Not great, if I am being honest, not great. Anyone can have a bad game - players and referees - but I think he wasn’t where he should have been in terms of the level for a game like this.
“I think there were a few around the box - and you know how deadly we are from set-pieces, any one of those could have made the difference. This is definitely not me putting it all on him - we played the game but I don’t think he was at the level…”
English official Michael Oliver was sent home despite a solid tournament, whilst Anthony Taylor stayed in Qatar but wasn’t in consideration to get the whistle for the final.
Meanwhile, beaten semi-finalists have formalised their own grievances with referees, filing an official complaint regarding Cesar Ramos’ performance during their own loss to France.
