Although Polish referee Szymon Marciniak was widely expected to officiate the 2025 Champions League final — set to be played between Paris Saint-Germain and Inter Milan in Munich on May 31 UEFA has made a remarkable decision to exclude him from refereeing the season’s most important match.
The reason? His controversial performance during the second leg of the semi-final between Barcelona and Inter, which sparked widespread outrage due to several questionable decisions most notably the highly disputed penalty awarded to Lautaro Martinez, as well as his failure to acknowledge what many considered a clear foul in the buildup to Inter’s third goal.
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This performance drew sharp criticism from Barcelona’s management, led by president Joan Laporta, who applied significant pressure on UEFA to hold the referee accountable. As a result, Marciniak has been excluded not only from the Champions League final, but from all other European finals this season, according to the Spanish newspaper El Nacional.
UEFA has instead appointed Romanian referee Istvan Kovacs to officiate the final, assisted by Romanian assistants Mihai Marica and Ferenc Tunyogi, while Dutchman Dennis Johan Higler will serve as the Video Assistant Referee (VAR).
This will mark the third European final Kovacs has officiated, following the 2024 Europa League final between Atalanta and Bayer Leverkusen and the 2022 Conference League final between Roma and Feyenoord.
Referee Irfan Peljto has been assigned to the Conference League final between Real Betis and Chelsea, while German referee Felix Zwayer will officiate the Europa League final between Manchester United and Tottenham.
The decision to remove Marciniak underscores UEFA’s commitment to enforcing high standards of officiating during critical matches, amid increasing calls from top clubs for fair and consistent refereeing in European competitions.
