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Poland’s Szymon Marciniak named world’s best ref by IFFHS

11.01.2023 20:30
Poland’s Szymon Marciniak, who officiated the 2022 FIFA World Cup final between Argentina and France, was voted 2022 Men’s World Best Referee by the International Federation of Football Historians and Statistics (IFFHS).
Szymon Marciniak
Szymon MarciniakEPA/Noushad Thekkayil

The 42-year-old Marciniak scored 150 points and was way ahead of the 2020 winner, Italian Daniele Orsato with 65 points, and Frenchman Clement Turpin with 40.

On 18 December 2022, when the World Cup game took place, Marciniak became the first ever Polish referee to do so. His performance in the match won praise from many established referees including Pierluigi Collina, Howard Webb and Keith Hackett.

The IFFHS, which has been in existence since 1984, studies the history and statistics of football. The foundation holds annual polls in various categories. Awards for the past year included Poland’s Robert Lewandowski as the World’s Best Goal Scorer of the Third Decade with his staggering 111 goals since 2021, Belgium's Thibaut Courtois of Real Madrid in the "best goalkeeper" category, with Wojciech Szczesny coming in sixth, Argentina's Lionel Messi as the best soccer player, his national team coach Lionel Scaloni was named the best coach of national teams, and the winner of the award among club coaches was Italy's Carlo Ancelotti of Real Madrid.

(jh)

Source: PAP