UEFA issue statement on referee for Manchester City vs Inter Champions League final referee | OneFootball

The referee for the 2023 Champions League final between Manchester City and Inter will remain as planned, UEFA have confirmed on Friday.

A report from the Guardian this week revealed that European football’s governing body was investigating claims that Szymon Marciniak – referee for the upcoming Champions League final – was a keynote speaker at an event organised by a far-right politician.

In a statement to the newspaper, UEFA said, “Uefa is aware of the allegations surrounding Szymon Marciniak and is seeking urgent clarification. Uefa and the whole football community abhor the ‘values’ that are promoted by the group in question and takes these allegations very seriously.

“A further announcement will be made tomorrow, after reviewing all the evidence.”

Now, as confirmed on Friday morning, Szymon Marciniak will take charge of the upcoming UEFA Champions League final between Manchester City and Inter in Istanbul, Turkey on June 10 2023.

The clarification over the situation follows a lengthy apology from the Polish match official, as well as clarification about his appearance at the conference.

Marciniak said, “I was gravely misled and completely unaware of the true nature and affiliations of the event in question. I had no knowledge it was associated with a Polish extreme-right movement. Had I been, I would have categorically declined the invitation.”

UEFA have also stated that they had spoken with ‘NEVERAGAIN’ – an NGO affiliated with the FARE network – who requested that the match official remains in his role as Champions League final referee.

Following clarification over the match officials for the Champions League final, Marciniak will – as planned – be accompanied by Assistant Referees Paweł Sokolnicki and Tomasz Listkiewicz.

Overviewing proceedings will be Video Assistant Referee Tomasz Kwiatkowski, Assistant Video Assistant Referee Bartosz Frankowski and VAR Support Marco Fritz.

István Kovács has been named as the Fourth Official – overseeing conduct within the two dugouts, and the behaviour of managers Pep Guardiola and Simone Inzaghi.