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Szymon Marciniak, the man who refereed arguably the greatest World Cup final ever played, has been tapped to officiate Argentina’s opening 2026 World Cup match against Algeria on June 16 at Kansas City Stadium.
A familiar face for high-pressure moments
Marciniak’s resume reads like a greatest hits album of modern football’s biggest moments. He officiated the 2022 FIFA World Cup final in Qatar, where Argentina edged France in what many consider the most dramatic final in tournament history.
He followed that up by taking charge of the 2023 UEFA Champions League final. Two of the sport’s most prestigious fixtures in consecutive years is not a coincidence. It is a statement from football’s governing bodies about where Marciniak ranks among his peers.
His assistants for the Argentina-Algeria match will be Tomasz Listkiewicz and Adam Kupsik, forming an all-Polish officiating crew.
The announcement came on June 13, giving both teams three days’ notice of who will be controlling the game.
The expanded World Cup changes everything
The 2026 World Cup is the first to feature 48 teams, a significant expansion from the 32-team format that has been the standard since 1998.
Assigning Marciniak to a group-stage match involving the defending champions signals that FIFA is front-loading its best officials into the marquee early fixtures.
What to watch in this matchup
Opening matches at the World Cup carry a unique kind of pressure. Defending champions have historically stumbled in their first games. France lost to Senegal in 2002. Spain drew with Switzerland in 2010. Germany lost to Mexico in 2018.
Marciniak demonstrated his judgment in the 2022 final. He allowed the match to breathe during Argentina’s dominant first half, then managed the chaos of France’s remarkable comeback without losing control of the contest.
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