Szymon Marciniak will become the first Polish referee ever to oversee a World Cup final when Argentina meet France today.
The 41-year-old will be joined by his two long-time assistants Pawel Sokolnicki and Tomasz Listkiewicz after being given the honour of reaching the pinnacle of a 20-year career by selector Pierluigi Collina.
The keen cyclist is in excellent physical shape and will be able to keep up with the likes of Argentina’s Lionel Messi and France’s Kylian Mbappe at Lusail Stadium.
Marciniak is also a former footballer and played for the professional club Wisla Plock during his youth career before becoming a referee at 21 after being released to play in the amateur game.
Having excelled domestically, Marciniak has become a regular on the Champions League scene and now in major tournament football.
He worked the final of the Under-21s European Championship in 2015, before being appointed at Euro 2016, the World Cup in 2018 and now this tournament, where he has already refereed both France and Argentina matches.
He was, however, left out at Euro 2020 due to an elevated heartbeat caused by coronavirus.
His previous controversies include harshly ruling out a Marcos Alonso goal for Chelsea against Real Madrid in the Champions League last season and being accused of a 'disasterclass' in Liverpool's 1-0 defeat by Atletico Madrid in the competition a year earlier - a match that saw Jurgen Klopp booked for his complaints to Marciniak.
He saw off competition from 36 referees from 29 different countries, including two Englishmen in Michael Oliver and Anthony Taylor plus the competition's first female referee Stephanie Frappart, to take charge of the final.
