UEFA replaces referee in Champions League final?

Champions League final referee Szymon Marciniak is under UEFA supervision.

A Polish anti-racism group, Never Again, said Marciniak “is alleged to have promoted and participated in a recent event organised by Polish far-right leader Slawomir Mentzen”.

Mentzen is known for promoting anti-Semitic, sexist and homophobic views... Marciniak and Mentzen were set to be keynote speakers at an event billed as a business conference on Monday in Katowice, Poland. Mentzen has also promoted Marciniak's arbitration partnership on his social media channels.

Marciniak, 42, was appointed by UEFA last week to officiate the biggest club match of the season between Manchester City and Inter Milan on June 10. He also officiated the 2022 World Cup final between Argentina and France at the end of last year. But UEFA will not take the allegations lightly, the organisation said in a statement on Thursday: “A further announcement will be made on Friday, after reviewing all the evidence.” UEFA added that it “takes these allegations very seriously.”

The refereeing situation has suddenly caused UEFA a headache, when recently Anthony Taylor - the referee in charge of the Europa League final between Sevilla and AS Roma on Wednesday - was heavily criticized by the Italian team.

Roma blamed Taylor for their penalty shootout loss to Sevilla. Roma manager Jose Mourinho launched a tirade at the referee in his post-match press conference, and was later seen hurling expletives at Taylor in the car park of the Puskas Arena in Budapest, Hungary, as his team prepared to leave the pitch.

The tension continued when the English referee and his family were seen surrounded by hostile Roma fans at Budapest airport. Taylor and his family had to be escorted away by airport security after Roma fans insulted him and threw chairs at him, a video posted on Gazzetta dello Sport shows…

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