FIFA Elite or UEFA Profi - this is the name of the new group of world's leading referees, to which the number 1 candidate is Szymon Marciniak. The creation of such an elite category of professional referees should be the response to the needs of FIFA, UEFA, and the leading leagues of various countries. A Polish referee could officiate key matches every week, for example, in the Italian Serie A, Spanish La Liga or the English Premier League, or the hottest matches in the Turkish, Greek, or Portuguese leagues. This project has been born and may be created faster than anyone expected - writes Rafal Rostkowski, an expert at TVP Sport, who was an assistant referee in UEFA and FIFA competitions from 1997 to 2017, and afterwards analyzed refereeing cases on an ongoing basis, including the World Cup in Qatar.
“I learned about the current plans to create a professional group of international referees from a person close to FIFA and UEFA. When I started to verify this information, two other persons active in the referee structures at the international level confirmed it independently of each other. However, each of them presented a slightly different version of some details, pointing out that the project is at such a stage that it is still too early to talk about specifics, or even more about arrangements. The idea is to use the best referees in Europe or the world for the benefit of football as optimally as possible. When the creation of a group called "FIFA Elite" or "UEFA Profi" becomes a fact and FIFA or UEFA will hire Szymon Marciniak, who is now the number 1 referee in both organizations, he could referee matches in various European leagues every week - obviously only in the leagues of those countries that would sign up for the central international refereeing program for league matches”, said Rostkowski.
Today Juve-Milan, next week Real-Barca...
Thus, Szymon Marciniak could lead, for example, a match between Juventus Turin and AC Milan in Serie A one week, a match between Real Madrid and FC Barcelona in La Liga a week or two later, and at the end of the month he could referee a match between PSG and Olympique de Marseille. Of course, it's a theory, but very close to what may soon be a reality. Of course, Marciniak would not have to referee such top matches every month only in the strongest leagues. Completely neutral referees with extensive international experience are also often needed in the Greek, Turkish, Bulgarian, Romanian, or Portuguese leagues and in many others, including the Polish Ekstraklasa. Matches involving such clubs from Istanbul as Besiktas v Fenerbahce or Galatasaray, or Panathinaikos Athens v Olympiacos Piraeus, or in Lisbon Benfica v Sporting or FC Porto, or possibly, for example, Legia Warszawa v Lech Poznan, which are also often extremely demanding matches. The key to the success of the "FIFA Elite" or "UEFA Profi" project will be the arrangements between national associations, individual professional leagues, as well as FIFA and UEFA.
FIFA and UEFA are refining an idea from 20 years ago
However, the idea of creating a group of professional international referees is not new at all. I heard about it during meetings with the FIFA authorities when I was still an active international assistant referee. The idea was first discussed at the beginning of the 21st century, shortly after the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan, which went down in history as the worst refereed tournament of this level - not only in this century. There were so many mistakes at that time that Angel Villar Llona, who was also the president of the Spanish Football Federation, resigned from the FIFA Referees Committee as a sign of protest due to refereeing scandals. Spain was one of the teams most affected and eliminated from the tournament by referees' mistakes. FIFA president Sepp Blatter was also outraged by the refereeing and dissolved the Referees Committee after the World Cup, then appointed a new committee, and put Villar Llona at its head. He, in turn, hired Jose Maria Garcia-Aranda, a former international referee, as the Head of Refereeing, i.e., the role of the head of the FIFA Referees Department. Garcia-Aranda began to professionalize the way of preparing referees to work in major international competitions. It was during the tenure of Villar Llona and Garcia-Aranda that the idea of creating a professional group of international referees was born, whom FIFA or UEFA would appoint to particularly difficult, potentially difficult, or simply the most prestigious matches in individual countries and leagues. At that time, the implementation of the idea did not take place due to the lack of interest from the largest national associations and the strongest leagues. "We have enough good referees in our country, and we do not need any transfers from other countries", said Volker Roth, then an influential figure in the German Football Association (DFB), chairman of the UEFA Referees Committee and a big opponent of the FIFA Referees Committee. A similar position was taken by the referee authorities of national associations from England, France and Italy.
Referee transfers became a fact
In recent years, the situation has changed radically: transfers of referees have become a fact. Serbian Milorad Mazic signed a refereeing contract in the Chinese Super League after the 2018 World Cup. He stopped refereeing in Serbia and Europe, which meant the end of his international career. Englishman Marc Clattenburg, who had already refereed the final of the Champions League and Euro 2016, also had an almost certain nomination for his first World Cup in 2018. At the same time, he had a real chance to become the first referee in history who, in addition to the Champions League and Euro finals, would also appear in the final of the World Cup. He did, but a few months earlier he got a tempting offer from Saudi Arabia. Clattenburg wanted to combine refereeing in the Saudi league with refereeing in the English Premier League, but the refereeing authorities of the English Football Association (The FA) did not agree to this. They made Clattenburg choose which league he prefers to referee in. He chose the Saudi one, so The FA stripped him of his FIFA referee status, and he did not go to the 2018 World Cup. After a year, Clattenburg moved to China. The need to transfer referees is now more and more often discussed in various countries, even in France, Germany, and England, where The FA has just nominated the Australian Jarred Gillet as an international referee. Before emigrating, he was an A-League referee and FIFA referee nominated by the Australian Football Association.
Faghani is the exception
So far, the only referee whose transfer to the league of another country did not hinder the continuation of his international career and participation in the World Cup is the Iranian Alireza Faghani. He has been refereeing in the Australian A-League since 2019, but still has very good relations with the Iranian Football Association, which still submits his nomination to FIFA every year on the list of international referees. Thanks to this, Faghani could take part in, among others, the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. However, for now, Faghani is an exception to the worldwide practice. Today, the practice is still that each international referee regularly referees in his own country. In addition, from several to a dozen times a year, he is appointed to matches by his continental confederation - in the case of Australia, belonging to the same confederation as Iran, it is the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), and in the case of Europe would be UEFA. Less frequently, not more often than a few times a year, international referees are sent to matches in world competitions, e.g., World Cup qualifiers or possibly matches in the final tournament. In addition, there are occasional invitations to friendly matches, although they were always few and did not happen every year, and sometimes there are appointments to referee matches in other national leagues. The latter phenomenon is systematically developing, but such activities can be troublesome for both referees and national associations, because the association or the league does not pay the referee a fixed remuneration to work in another country, in another league...
Famous Cuneyt Cakir was thinking about a transfer to Poland
Apart from a small group of directly interested people, no one knows about it and, so far, no one has written or spoken publicly, but the famous Turkish referee Cuneyt Cakir, who in the past refereed the final of the Champions League in 2015 and two World Cup semi-finals in 2014 and 2018, was considering refereeing matches in the Polish Ekstraklasa. Ultimately, however, his affairs turned out differently. After a break in refereeing caused by perturbations in the Turkish Football Association and - as it turned out - the unjust suspension of Cakir, which deprived him of the chance to referee the World Cup in Qatar, he returned briefly to referee in his home country, and recently decided to retire.
Collina was offered a transfer to England
The first famous referee to move to another country's league was the Italian Pierluigi Collina, referee of the 2002 World Cup final and now head of the FIFA Referees Committee. When he was at the peak of his career, he signed an advertising contract with Opel. However, the authorities of the Italian Football Federation saw a conflict of interest, as Opel was also a sponsor of AC Milan. In that context, every referee decision by Collina, even decisions made in matches without the participation of AC Milan, could, however, arouse inappropriate and undesirable controversies and comments suggesting that the referee's decision was related to the advertising contract and the potential interest of Opel, so... Collina stopped refereeing in Serie A. Then a transfer proposal appeared from the English Premier League, but when it turned out that the contract with Opel would constitute a conflict of interest there as well, Collina ended his career.
Hurry up to appreciate Szymon Marciniak...
Szymon Marciniak is now in the same career period as Collina then. They know each other well, they like each other, they cooperate intensively, so Szymon will probably consider potential advertising contracts very carefully. Meanwhile, the question is whether the Polish referee will leave Ekstraklasa for a contract with one of the leading leagues, or whether the "FIFA Elite" or "UEFA Profi" project will be implemented earlier. In any case, one thing is certain: hurry up to appreciate Marciniak, because he may disappear from the Polish Ekstraklasa faster than anyone expects.
Source: Rafal Rostkowski/TVP Sport