Who is the referee of the final Argentina vs. France, Sunday?

Argentina and France will play the World Cup final this Sunday, December 18, and as the decisive hour approaches, FIFA is announcing details related to the commitment. Thus, this Thursday, the highest soccer body reported that the referee for the last duel in Qatar 2022 will be Szymon Marciniak.

The one born in Poland was already in matches of the two teams throughout the World Cup. For the Albiceleste, the whistler appeared in the 2-1 victory against Australia in the round of 16 and earned two yellow cards (both for the Oceanicians). Days before, the referee had the responsibility of leading ‘Les Bleus’ to a 2-1 win over Denmark in the group round: there were three bookings, one of them Jules Kundé.

Marciniak will be accompanied by his compatriots Pawel Sokolnicki and Tomasz Listkiewicz, first and second assistant, respectively. Also, the fourth man is Ismail Elfath from the United States. While those in charge of the VAR are: the Polish Tomasz Kwiatkowski (main), the Venezuelan Juan Soto (AVAR), the American Kyle Atkins (offside VAR) and the Mexican Fernando Guerrero (VAR support).

Who is Szymon Marciniak?

The 41-year-old referee began his career in 2002, but it was not until 2011 that he was named FIFA. Throughout his career in this profession he has participated in Champions League, Europa League and Conference League matches at club level. In national teams he has been in the Eurocup, the 2017 U-17 World Cup, the FIFA Arab Cup or the 2018 World Cup.

Thus, between local and international competitions, in all areas, Szymon Marciniak led a total of 550 matches. In all those duels he handed out 2,213 yellow cards and 67 red ones. In addition, the one born in the city of Plock penalized 244 penalties.

Argentina goes for the third with Marciniak

In Qatar 2022, the European led Argentina-Australia successfully for Lionel Scaloni’s team. But there is another precedent and it occurred in the previous World Cup. The day the Albiceleste debuted in Russia 2018 (1-1 draw against Iceland), the judge was the Pole. In the final it will be the third.

France goes for the fourth with Marciniak

Before the Gauls beat Denmark 2-1 in this World Cup, Marciniak led the international friendly between France and Portugal in 2014 with victory for the Gauls. Then, in 2020, Didier Deschamps’ men beat Sweden 1-0 in the League of Nations.