The 42-year-old referee from Plock was clearly the comfortable winner. He scored 150 points and was ahead of the winner of the 2020 poll, Italian Daniele Orsato - 65 - and Frenchman Clement Turpin - 40.
"He became the first Polish chief referee to officiate a World Cup final and this is just one year after he was forced to miss the European Championships due to health problems. What an achievement for Szymon Marciniak!" - was written on the organisation's website.
His competitors were England's Michael Oliver with 35 points, South Africa's Victor Gomes with 25 and Slovenia's Slavko Vincic with 20.
The IFFHS, founded in 1984, studies football history and keeps track of relevant statistics. The organisation implements annual plebiscites in various categories. Awards for the past year included Real Madrid's Belgian Thibaut Courtois in the 'best goalkeeper' category, with Wojciech Szczęsny coming sixth, Argentina's Lionel Messi as the best footballer, with Lionel Scaloni recognised as the best national team coach, and the winner of the award among club coaches was Real Madrid's Carlo Ancelotti.
