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Argentina take on France in the final of the 2022 FIFA World Cup at the Lusail Stadium in France on Sunday, December 18, and the match will create history with Poland referee Szymon Marciniak set to become the first from his country to officiate a World Cup final.
The 41-year-old was forced to retire a year ago after being diagnosed with Tachycardia, a heart condition that also made him miss out on officiating the 2020 UEFA European Championship, held in 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Ahead of the ultimate match of the FIFA World Cup, Marciniak, who became a FIFA referee in 2011, recalled this tough period, "I had a very difficult time for the last year-and-a-half. I had Tachycardia - it's a heart illness. In the beginning, it was very difficult for me and I had to stop refereeing."
He added that missing the Euros was really tough but making his return at the biggest stage in World Cup is a better feeling altogether. "I missed the UEFA European Championship, it was a terrible feeling. Now, life gives back to me and I cannot even stop smiling because it's a great feeling," he said.
France will enter the World Cup with a chance of creating a piece of history by retaining the trophy. This feat has only been achieved twice and has not been done in 60 years.
At the near-90,000-capacity Lusail Stadium, reigning champions France face Lionel Messi's high-flying Argentina. Marciniak has already refereed games between the two teams in Qatar. Meanwhile, Marciniak has experience with both these teams, have officiated a match for each of the two finalists. He was in charge of France's 2-1 group stage victory over Denmark, before refereeing the game in which Messi led Argentina to a 2-1 win over Australia in the Round of 16.
Marciniak is not the only Polish official who will be on the pitch. He will be assisted by compatriots Pawel Sokolnicki and Tomasz Listkiewicz. The polis trio have already worked together at during the 2018 World Cup in Russia. Tomasz Kwiatkowski will be he Video Assistant Referee (VAR) while USA's Ismail Elfath will be the fourth official.
