Danny Makkelie will no longer play at the World Cup. The Dutch referee could formally hope to lead Sunday’s final. But FIFA chose Polish referee Szymon Marciniak on Thursday.
The world football federation will not rely on Makkelie for Saturday’s consolation final either. Qatari Abdulrahman Al Jassim is in charge of Croatia-Morocco in his home country. FIFA often opt for a non-obvious referee in consolation finals.
Makkelie’s chances of calling into the World Cup final were noticeably diminished after the quarter-final between the Netherlands and Argentina got out of hand. Since Argentina made it to the World Cup final, it seemed inconceivable that a Dutch referee would award the final battle.
The 39-year-old Makkelie made his World Cup debut as a referee in Qatar. He made two appearances in the group stage. He whistled the cracker between Spain and Germany (1-1) and the duel between Poland and Argentina (0-2). In the knockout stage, the Dutch referee was not awarded any matches.
The 41-year-old Marciniak is the first Pole to referee a World Cup final. At the start of this World Cup, he has already refereed Argentina-Australia (2-1) and France-Denmark (2-1). He will be assisted on Sunday by his he permanent assistants Pawel Sokolnicki and Tomasz Listkiewicz.
